TTNG: Book 1
by Firefly457
Summary: All I wanted to do was relax and try to forget about his death. I wasn't going to look for a fight. But, of course, Nightwing's daughter doesn't HAVE to look for a fight now does she? Especially when her opponent is the late Slade's daughter. Future TT fi
1. P r o l o g u e

**Disclaimer: This story is purely fan-made and not to be confused with the Teen Titans animated series, which is actually good.**

**A/N: This is about the Teen Titans' children, mostly about Robin and Starfire's daughter. I don't know why but in ever next generation story, I've made Robin a complete jerk. I am a Robin fan, but I really don't sound like it in this story. Oh and this story is T for a reason. **

P r o l o g u e

My name is Mariander Jean Grayson, Mari for short. What I am about to tell you is one hundred percent true. There are no false statements, no fluffy parts included to make the reader "feel better". I am not milking anyone for sympathy; I am not trying to entertain. What you are about to read is only part of my statement that will hopefully buy my freedom. When I say "100 percent true" I really mean it. I will tell you, the reader, every heart wrenching, bloody, rancid memory from the time I was thirteen to the time I was twenty-one, only skipping three years in the middle because they're none of your damn business and have nothing to do with the overall story itself.

I was born in a time that you probably don't understand. Remember those days when a bank robber would try to mug you in the streets and Robin would swoop in and rescue you? Then he would flash you that charming smile and disappear into the crowds where Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire were waiting. That Robin is dead. He died with Slade almost ten months before my birth. Or at least his kind side did. The old Teen Titans that you knew and loved practically died as well. No, they didn't die in a heroic battle. And no, they didn't _literally_ die. All I'm telling you about Slade's death was that he was legit, had given up villain for something better. But no one knew what it was. But he never got to do or see that "something better". My father went berserk. He attacked Slade with everything he had and never let up for a second. By the time Cyborg (Vic) was able to pull Dad off of Slade, it was too late. Slade was dead. After that everything changed. If it wasn't for the fact that Jen, who was also Jinx at the time, just had a baby right before Slade died, she and Wally (Flash or Kid Flash at the time) would have ended up just like the rest of the Titans.

My mother, Starfire, was never supposed to get pregnant with me. My father didn't want me. Hell, he didn't want me after I was born. My father wanted her to get an abortion immediately, but luckily my mother was persistent. After all, Dad promised her at least one child when they were married two months before Slade died. Dad finally subsided, but swore that he would not help her during the pregnancy. She would have to take care of herself. Maybe that was scarred her so badly. One of the reasons Dad allowed her to keep the baby (me) was she promised him a son. A son could carry the family name. A son would take over for him when he was old. He wouldn't have to baby a son. But Richard and Kori Grayson didn't have a son. They had a daughter. A daughter that was pretty underweight, barely five pounds, and had the umbilical cord tied around her neck twice. Luckily, I wasn't born with any mental problems. Well, besides bipolar disorder when I grew older.

Despite the fact I was a girl, Dad decided to train me anyway. What did he have to lose? He began my training when I was three years old. It was just the "simple" things first, like martial arts. Then I began weapons training at age four. Mom began teaching how to use my powers, which I had gotten from her side of the family, at age eight. She was crushed to learn that despite the fact I had inherited her strength and star bolts, I had not inherited her power of flight. Mostly because by that time, my emotions were so screwed up that it was practically hopeless. When I was four years old, the "accident" happened.

That's a misnomer. It wasn't an accident. It was an example of my father's cruelty and insanity. It was a normal day, Dad was teaching me how to fight with daggers when I cut myself. Dad lost it when I started crying. He was already angry with me because of the fact that I wasn't progressing as fast as I was supposed to. The second I started crying, he snatched me off of the ground and flung me across the floor. Before I knew it Dad was attacking me with knives. I managed to escape, but I still had a bad scar that was shaped like an "X" on my lower back. It was never faded and remained there forever. The Shadow saved me. I never knew who he really was at the time, but he became a father figure to me. He taught me acrobatics and I mastered it immediately. Unfortunately, he disappeared when I turned eight. I never saw him again until I was thirteen.

When I was thirteen, two things happened that changed my life forever. One was I found out my father was cheating on my mother with his old "friend", Barbara Gordon, and had been for the past eight years. The other thing was I joined a gang. I didn't mean to, it happened too fast. But with the shadow gone, my mother running off to Tameran to get away from my father all the time, my relationship with my father ruined beyond repair, and all my "friends" in Jump City, I needed someone. I needed someone to talk to and take care of me. I got that person. His name was Murray Flinders, son of Barron Flinders, aka Mammoth. He was five years older that me, eighteen years old. I loved him like an older brother, one my parents never provided for me. His mother died when he was a baby. After that, he and his father were extremely close. Unfortunately, his father died when he was eight. Somehow he joined the Jokerz, the gang I later joined. Things completely changed for me. For the first time in my life, I felt wanted. My father, however, hated Murray. On more that one occasion, he threatened to call the police to arrest Murray for pedophile. That also caused a greater rift between my father and me. It also distanced me from my Jump City friends. I became a rebel; I didn't want to communicate with anyone who weren't Murray, DJ, BJ, or Dane. DJ and BJ came later. They were the children of Donna Troy (Troia), Wonder Woman's sister and William North (Billy Numerous). Dianna, Donna's sister, hated her sister for dating and later marrying Billy Numerous. They hadn't spoken since before Slade died. DJ was named for her mother. Her full name was Donna Joanne North. BJ was named for his father. His full name was William North X (Yeah. They're nine more named that in his family) His family always called him Billy Junior. Murray and I called him BJ (**B**illy **J**unior).

Dane Matthews was the leader of the Jokerz. When I was thirteen, he was 24, nine years older than I was. And he was in love with me. I always thought it was funny. Dad called Murray a pedophile, but it was really Dane. Of course, I liked Dane well enough as a friend. Sure he could be a little cruel sometimes, but the person deserved it. Or so I thought. I always thought Dane was a good guy until he killed Murray. He suspected Murray of betraying the gang. Which is bullshit. The gang was always Murray's second priority; I was his first. I watched it happened. If that wasn't traumatizing enough, Dane decided to put aside his so called "love" for me so he could frame me for the murder. That was when I saw "The Shadow" again. He rescued me from falling to my death and he told me something that saved my sanity. _"Your destiny isn't falling to your death, joining your friend. Your destiny is life. Your destiny is to protect your loved ones and crush your enemies. Don't lose sight of your main goal or you'll join your father in the darkness._ For years I had no idea what that meant. But I followed his words loyally. Unfortunately, he couldn't save me from getting arrested. And do you know what's worse than having the cops think you are a lying murderer? Your own father, thanks to that bitch Barbara Gordon, think you are a lying murderer and your own mother is too afraid of your father to stick up for you.

I got sent to juvie for five months, two of those were because I insulted Barbara--I mean Commissioner Gordon. When I got out Dad packed us up and moved us to Jump City. According to him it would be better for me. Which was probably a lie because Dad never really cared what happened to me. Sure, he "believed" me when I told him that I didn't kill Murray. He forbade me from ever speaking about it ever again. Maybe he thought that if I flat out ignored the fact that I "killed" Murray, I would forget about him. Maybe that's what happened with him and Slade. But I didn't forget about Murray. Especially since I turned out to be the main beneficiary in his will. I got everything he ever owned, even some clothes. There were two things that I especially loved. One was his old jacket. It was a black jacket that reached my knees and had a hood on it. No matter how many years passed, Murray's scent never faded from that jacket. The second thing was his van. Originally, it was his father's. It was dark blue and resembled the Mystery Machine from _Scooby-Doo_ on the inside. That van was Murray's pride and joy. He had gotten it right after his father died. Murray even taught me how to drive in that van. The van still smelt like Murray. Even a decades after he died, but that little piece of information isn't involved in the story whatsoever.

Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This story's beginning takes place two days after I moved to Jump City, three weeks before Ravager was unmasked.

**A/N: There you go, Chapter 1. Reviews are wonderful. Some constructive criticism is accepted, but no flames (they're pretty pointless don't you think?).**


	2. O n e

**Disclaimer: I only own my characters not the original Teen Titans.**

O n e

I wasn't trying to be difficult. I wasn't trying to be stubborn. I just wanted them to leave me the hell alone. But unfortunately, Karen was the "touchy-feely" type that thought you should talk about all of your problems. No wonder her son was such a "Momma's Boy". I already knew I could kick his ass, but he thought otherwise. He believed that I really killed Murray and that I was some kind of psycho from the mental ward. I hated his mother and could hardly stand him, but I loved Vic to death. He knew that I needed some space (figuratively and literally) and offered me a small room in the basement of the Tower that could be accessed from my bedroom closet and I turned it into a botany lab for my plants. My father still didn't know about it. It was the only thing that relaxed me.

Jesse and Cat knew better though. They knew not to bother me…sometimes. Jesse looked exactly his father, Wally, but had his mother's, eyes. He also had his mother's short temper and his father's laziness. He was perfect. He was captain of the football team and the basketball team in his school. The only thing I thought was funny was that with his short hair, he kind of resembled a girl with short hair. I always thought he had a crush on me, but he wasn't my type. Anything between us would only be sexual attraction. I doubted it would happen though, because he was obviously gay. How else could a guy like that _not_ have a girlfriend or even been kissed.

Cat was the daughter of Rachel (Raven) and Garfield (Changeling) Logan. She had dark green hair and bright purple eyes. She could barely control her powers of telekinesis or levitation. Don't get me wrong. We used to be really close when we were younger. But then I when I joined the Jokerz, I saw her for what she really was. A suck-up. She had one other power, the ability to turn into any feline…you name it, she can become it. But only cats. You see why I always told her that genetics had screwed her.

Randy and I were literally raised to be rivals. When we were young we never got the chance to become friends because our fathers always pitted us against each other. If he got a PS2, I would too and we would have to face off in some racing game. I was the better gamer, but that's a different story in itself. Randy was spoiled from the moment the umbilical cord was cut. This was probably so because his father was half-robot and his mother wasn't. Pretty much they spent a small fortune getting Karen pregnant for seven years before it finally happened. Randy thought that he was the best. He was "supposed" to be the leader of the Titans when my father stepped down. I myself didn't care. He could have the damn team if he wanted it so badly. Even at age fifteen, I knew I was destined to follow a different path than my father and the Titans had already plotted for me. Not that they cared though.

0O0O0

_I guess though that my story, at least right now, doesn't start right after I got out of juvie. I think it really begins when I got Jesse his first girlfriend, Rose Wilson. God, was that one of the biggest mistakes of my life._

0O0O0

I hate the mall. The only stores in it I ever liked were Hot Topic and GameStop. But Jesse, Cat, and Randy loved it. They loved human contact, unlike me, the sane antisocial one of the dysfunctional group. But Jen wanted me to go with them, and if you knew her as long as I do, you would know _never_ and I mean _**never**_ argue with her. You don't win and you usually get injured in the process. I considered myself lucky later for that rubbing off on me as I got older.

There is only one thing that I hated more than the mall: Jesse's driving. For one of the fastest people on the planet, he drives like an old woman! He's always so crazy too. You can't turn on the radio, you can't turn on the air conditioner (or heater when it's winter), you can't put down your window, and you can't make any noise because he says it "distracts" him. So what do I do for Jesse? Be as loud as possible and fight about windows, heaters, air conditioners, and radios. Seriously, do you expect any better?

My story begins on May 27, one of the hottest days of the year. As usual, Jen forced me to go with Jesse and Company to the mall and Lord Prick wouldn't let down a single window. Cat was meditating in the backseat and Randy was beside her playing Extreme Avalanche Escape on his Game boy Mini. Jesse was in a bad mood so I ignored him the best I could. But as usual by the time we were ¼ of the way there, we were fighting like cats and dogs. Finally, I grew so angry with him that I ended up giving him the silent treatment the rest of the way there. When we got to the mall, I quickly ran off in one direction while the others were plotting a careful route of where they were going and what time we would meet. I didn't care really. I knew Jesse was so angry at me that he would gladly leave me behind "on accident". I was a city girl after all. I wasn't afraid of walking. Besides, I'd love to see Jen chew Jesse's ass out for ditching me.

I hid out in Hot Topic for a good hour until Jesse finally found me and worked up the courage to come in.

"What do you want?" I demanded, pretending to be fascinated with a pair of Tripp pants.

"Uh…" Jesse stuttered. He did that a lot around me, but I could never figure out why.

"We're not catching flies, Jess," I said, "either shut up and leave or tell me."

"I kind of like…" He started, "this girl in my grade."

I was shocked. For years everyone in the Tower, even his own parents, thought Jesse was gay. We were just waiting for him to come out of the closet.

"Get out! Seriously!?" I asked. Jesse frowned.

"Of course I'm serious! What, you think I'm gay or something?"

"Yes." Hey, it was the truth.

"Look, are you going to help me or not?" He asked, it was obvious he was losing his temper.

"Alright, alright!" I laughed. The sound was strange and foreign to me. I hadn't laughed in months really.

He led me to the center of the cesspool. I tried to find this "girl" that may have turned our dear Jesse straight.

"Where is she?" I asked. He pointed to a girl surrounded by a large group of juniors from the high school. "So what's her name?" I was getting seriously entertained by this.

"R-Rose Wilson." He blushed. Wilson? The name stuck out to me for some reason, but I couldn't remember why. _Wilson…Wilson…Wilson…_

The girl was as tall as me with almost bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled in the light. She had a nice smile, I guess. She looked pretty preppy to me. Even I had to admit this girl was beautiful. Like someone I had seen before. Maybe from Gotham, a Harley-Quinn? No, she didn't look like a drug dealing hooker. Maybe from Mom's photo album from the Titan's glory days. Terra Markov, maybe. Terra was an old girlfriend of Cat's father. She betrayed the Titans to become Slade's apprentice, but double-crossed him in the long run only to turn to stone. She disappeared about a year later. Gar knows what happened to her, but he won't tell anyone, not even his wife and daughter. Rumor says that she went back to Slade for reasons other than being his apprentice if you catch my drift.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" I asked.

"I can't." Jesse blushed. I raised my eyebrows. This was the guy who got away with watching porno for a month with me when he was six and I was five (we didn't really know what was going on), but he couldn't ask a girl out.

"Stay here." I said walking over. When I look back on it, I shouldn't have meddled. I should have just minded my own business and bought those damn pants while I had the chance.

I walked across the floor, completely oblivious the glares and stares I was getting. Why did I even care about helping Jesse anyway? He was an ass…maybe a cute ass, but…I shook my head to banish the thought. Jesse, cute? Maybe when Hell froze over. I walked over to Rose and tapped her shoulder.

"Excuse me, Rose?" I asked sweetly. Even I could be polite when I wanted. Rose was taken back by a strange girl tapping her shoulder.

"Do I know you?" She asked.

"I'm a friend of Jesse West's." I replied. Rose tried to hide it, but I saw her lips twitch into a smile and the faint blush on her cheeks.

"Really?" She asked. "Is he here?"

"Yeah, but he has a problem." I said, "you see, Jess has a huge crush on you, but the idiot doesn't have the guts to ask you out." Only a true moron could miss the look of happiness in Rose's eyes.

"Really?" She asked happily. I nodded and jerked my head over to Jesse, who was on his cell phone. My heart dropped. Only a true moron could miss the look of shock and sadness in his eyes. Jen had another relapse.

When Jen was eighteen, a year after she joined the Titans, she was on a mission with Rachel and Wally to some island off the coast of Jamaica that wasn't on any map. Unfortunately, she was captured and injected with a virus that did torture on her lungs and nervous system. She grew very sick and weak after that. Wally went back to the island and tried to get the cure. It wasn't that he couldn't _find_ the cure, he just couldn't get to it. Wally was never the same after that. He blamed himself for Jen's weakened stat. After that, Jen wasn't allowed to go on anymore missions and had to take medicine all the time or else she was a goner. But every once in a while, she'd suffer from a relapse and grow so weak, she couldn't even get out of bed or she'd fall straight the to ground. Every time she's like that, Wally gets extremely protective and serious. It's almost like living with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You couldn't get him away from her bedside for anything. He grew even worse when Jen got pregnant with Jesse, especially when she was told she couldn't have any children. Poor Jen, and Jesse, nearly died when he was born. It took a long time for her to recuperate after that. As much as none of us wanted to admit, any relapse could kill Jen if it was bad enough. So you can understand why Jesse and I had to leave so quickly without saying goodbye to Rose…or even tracking down Cat and Randy.

In contrast to Jesse's sluggish driving, his driving when there is an emergency is the exact opposite. He drives faster and more recklessly, too afraid that his mother is dying to pay attention to any traffic laws. We didn't speak at all. The tension was thick in the car. For some reason, I wanted to reach out to Jesse. I wanted to hold him, comfort him, anything. Then I returned to my senses and kept my mouth shut.

0O0O0

Once we returned to the Tower, Jesse headed immediately for his mother's room. I remained in the hallway with Rachael.

"Is Jen…" I asked cautiously. Dread tugged at my heart. _Not another death, _I begged mentally_, I don't think I could handle another death. Not this soon, not Jen._

"She'll be fine after she gets some sleep." She held up a bottle of pills, "In the mean time, maybe Wally can get some sleep before he worries himself into a nervous breakdown." She suddenly frowned. "Where are Cat and Randy?"

"Oh shit!" I cursed, ignoring her reprimanding frown. "Jesse and I were in such a hurry to get back here we forgot them. They're still at the mall!"

This time it was Rachael's time to curse. "What time were they supposed to meet you guys?" I shot her a look that said, 'do you honestly think I stick around long enough to listen to that bull?' She sighed. "I'll send Vic to go look for them if they aren't back in an hour."

I followed her to the infirmary where she sat down on a bed. She ran a pale hand through her vivid violet locks.

"Tell it to me straight, Rae," I said, "How much longer does Jen have? I can take it." I looked at the woman seriously. She laughed.

"You definitely aren't one to mince words, are you, Mari Grayson?" she asked. I didn't need to answer her. "If she has another one like that then she won't last very long. Luckily, Wally wasn't here when she had it." She looked at me. "Your father is surprised you care about Jen so much. So are the rest of us, excluding Wally and Jen."

That didn't surprise me. Even when I was little, I didn't really want much to do with Karen and the others. But whenever Dad drug me and Mom to Jump City so he could do missions when I was little, I was always left with Jen and Wally. Since Wally always had to do some work online, I stayed with Jen while Jesse was at a friends house or at school. In those days, he was blissfully ignorant of him mother's disease. Jen and I grew extremely close. To be honest, she was the only Titan I truly liked. If…when she died, I would be crushed. It would almost be like Murray dying again.

"What can I say," I said shrugging my shoulders, "she's like a second mother to me." That was a lie. Jen practically _was_ my mother. My mother never really gave a damn about me because she was always in Tameran. Jen was like my mother and the Shadow was like my father. It was funny really.

I took the sleeping pills and promised to make sure poor Wally got them. I took the elevator to the fourth floor and walked to their room. I raised my hand to knock, but Jesse already opened the door. He exited and closed the door. I saw his eyes wander down to the pills in my hand.

"For your dad." I explained. He nodded, took the pills and disappeared, only to return a few moments later.

"Thanks," He said.

"How's your mom?" I asked.

"She's fine…now. Sleeping." He added with a smile. He looked tired himself.

"How are you?" I asked. I finally realized how close we were to each other. Any closer and our noses would touch.

"As to be expected." he replied with a shrug. He yawned. "I'm going to go take a nap okay?"

"Sure," I said. Then I remembered. "Jesse!"

"What?"

"Rose definitely has a crush on you. I could tell." I smiled slyly. "Just ask her out tomorrow okay?" Jesse looked elated. He ran over and hugged me.

"Thanks, Mari!" He kissed me on the cheek and sped out of sight. I touched where he kissed me lightly and felt a small smile form on my lips and my cheeks begin to burn.

"Your welcome." I mouthed to no one.


	3. T w o

-1**Disclaimer: I only own Mari, Jesse, Cat, Randy, and Rose. The rest belongs to Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank jcyz and Somewhere in Time for reviewing. Fell free to review guys. I'd like some constructive criticism. I can take it. **

T w o

For the rest of the week, I acted all…_loopy_ when I was around Jesse. Jesse, however, practically walked on clouds the way he acted. His parents were so happy that he had finally found a girlfriend, especially Jen. She had been waiting for him to get one for years. It was a happy moment for the Wests. In the meantime, I felt…different. All I wanted to do anymore was train. I punched and kicked and blasted things until I collapsed. That was how I got my mind off of things. But it wasn't working.

I began punching to the steady beat of "Wil-son, Wil-son, Wil-son!" and kicking to the beat of "Ter-ra, Ter-ra, Ter-ra!" What did Wilson, whoever the hell that was and Terra Markov have to do with anything. I debated about asking my father is anything about those names stuck out at him, but I couldn't. It was like some sixth sense was demanding me to keep this from him. I had to ask someone. Someone who was so preoccupied with other things that they couldn't possibly see the gears turning in my head. Wally West.

0O0O0

Of course, Wally has to complicates things. I spent six hours searching for him, but I couldn't find him. I even had Randy and Cat look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Stupid Wally. I pondered about who else I could ask about "Wilson" and "Terra" besides my father.

"Hey, Mom?" I sat on my mother's bed. Mom and I never really had many "heart-to-heart" talks. Actually, we never had any talks like that. It was obvious that these things were awkward.

"Yes?" She looked at me with an almost worried expression. Poor Mom's sanity couldn't handle anything that could seriously stress her out. That was why she always ran off to Tameran. That was something we had in common. One day, my father would push us to our limits and our sanities would crumble like fine china.

"Do you know anyone who has the last name Wilson?" I asked. She froze, a frown visible on her pretty face. For a moment, I thought I saw tears in her eyes.

"That was…" She swallowed and shook his head. "I don't know."

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded. I knew she was lying. I decided not to bother about Markov.

Even though she was forty, my mother was still drop-dead gorgeous. Believe it or not, she took excellent care of herself. Dad even gave her money to get her hair and nails done and to get herself some nice clothes. He still didn't touch her though. She had long dark red hair that grazed her lower back. It shone brilliantly and was very soft. Her nails were long and a shiny pink or purple. She wore make-up and a B (almost a C) cup. My mother was beautiful. Hell, she looked like she was in her mid-twenties. People mistook her for my older sister instead of my mother. I was jealous of her, and still am.

I was her exact opposite. I could care less about my looks. If Dad would allow it, I would've cut my hair when I was in the Jokerz. It was Mom's length and always in the way. I always had to put it up during training. It didn't shine, but it was soft…sometimes. My hair wasn't her dazzling red, it was jet black. I didn't have her soft, loving green eyes. I had my father's cold, emotionless blue ones. Her nails were perfect and long. Mine were short. If they needed to be shortened, I bit them first. I even gnawed the skin around them "to the quick" as Karen called it. If I chose to paint them at all, forget pink, screw purple (unless it was a dark purple), and "Barbara Gordon" hooker red could rot in hell. I chose dark purple and black. My mother's body was soft and had dainty feminine curves that complimented her tall frame. I was short, 5'5"-5'6", and I had some muscles, but I wasn't anywhere near buff. I had so many callusces on my body it wasn't funny. Mom like to take relaxing bubble baths in scented water for about a half hour to an hour. I took a quick shower, washed my hair, and let the warm water wash over my aching body (from training). She wore pink and lavender, I wore navy blue, dark purple, and black. She liked cute baby animals, I liked plants that could move and preferable be able to fight back if need be. She had a huge chest (although not as big as Barbara Gordon), I was barely a B cup. She was perfect, good enough to be Miss America. I probably would lose an ugly contest, although a lot of guys (mostly Jokerz) disagreed with me. You can see why I was jealous of my mother.

"Mom," I begged. "I need to know."

"Mariander," Mom begged me, "I really don't know." Again she was lying. But she knew if she begged enough, she would get her way. She was spoilt rotten by my father. Dad's idea was that if he spoiled Mom rotten. She still acted like she was a helpless child. If Dad wasn't taking care of her Galfore was. If _he _wasn't taking care of her, then Dad was probably in Gotham with Barbara Gordon. Then it was my duty to take care of my mother. I loved my mother, but was it really my job to watch my mother. Especially when she acted like she was still a teenager herself.

"What about Terra Markov?" I asked her.

"Who?" She asked truthfully. I shook my head.

"Never mind." I said. She gave me a hug and smiled. It felt awkward. "Dad's waiting for me." I said honestly. "I better get going."

All through my training session, I pondered about Wilson and Terra. Who were they? Why wouldn't my mother want to talk about them? Suddenly I realized something. Jesse was dating Rose _Wilson_ after all. If anyone knew who Wilson was and why he or she was so important, he would. The "evil plot" gears began to run wildly in my head. I tried to remember where Jesse was. Since Rose came into his life, he became…_unpredictable. _It was so weird. Ever since we were kids, and I was in Jump City, Jesse and I would do everything together. We knew everything about each other. But when Shadow left and I began to rebel, Jesse couldn't understand. I mean, he tried to. I just couldn't talk to him like I used to. Things were different and now Jesse was super pissed at me. Know we were distant and he looked at me weird all the time. Like some kind of hungry dog. Everyone knew why…everyone except me.

Luckily, I caught Jesse as he came back from basketball practice. Boy, did he smell terrible. But I couldn't help but jump on him so I could hug him. After all, my troubles would be over.

"Uh…" Jesse said, his face was red from either my hugging him or from practice. The smell was worse up close than far away though.

"Jesse," I asked sweetly, "who is Rose related to?"

"Her parents." Jesse replied dully pulling me off of him.

"Any superheroes…super villains…anyone important?" I pestered.

"What?! Mari, what the hell?" Jesse snapped.

"Her last name sounds familiar." I said simply.

"Might I remind you that you are the one who hooked us up!" He growled. He was angry.

"Well, sor-ry!" I growled. I marched away from him. Why did I even bother?

I went into my secret lab downstairs. It was a secret from my father because he thought that my "hobby" was a waste of time. My hobby you ask? Botany. I really liked animated (moving) plants. I had a whole lab full of plants from different countries and even different planets. My two favorites were from Tameran believe it or not. They were animated plants that I named Koriander after my mother and Komander after my aunt whom I've never met. They even had personalities. Koriander was sweet and affectionate, Komander was cold and evil. She always had to be watched 24/7. The last time I left her unsupervised, she tried to eat Wally, one of the only people who knew about my lab. Needless to say, he's never come back. Luckily, my secret was safe with him.

I sat down at my desk and stroked Kori affectionately. Tameranian ferns could sense tension and anger (and happiness along with other emotions) through touch so she knew I was angry. Komi just rattled in her cage.

"I hate him." I whispered.

_No you don't._

"Yes," I argued with no one but my own conscious, "I do. I regret ever introducing him to that bitch!"

_Only because you want him for yourself._

"Do not!"

_Do too_

"I do not!"

_Stop lying to yourself. You won't win. You never do…_

I through my head back, bashing it into the wall. The pain woke me up.

"I think I liked the nightmares about Murray better, Kori." I confessed. The orange plant just wrapped around my hand affectionately. I smiled in spite of myself. _I don't care about him_, I argued, _I don't._ "He's nothing but a suck up. A goody-goody. I don't deserve him."


	4. T h r e e

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans ****Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

T h r e e

Rose was over at the Tower all the Time from now. It was annoying. She always clung to Jesse and fussed over him like he was so big and strong. It made me want to hurl. Now if Cat, Randy, and I had to go anywhere, it was the bus or walking. Yeah, Vic and Gar would drive us, but I'd prefer not to go in their cars. Gar's smelt like rancid tofu and Vic's smelt like Karen's perfume. God forbid Dad lending my his car. I was fifteen and only had my learner's permit. Mom had her license, but hated driving. So I began spending my spare time chauffeuring her around in order to get _anywhere_. In all honesty, I did have a car of my own. Murray's old van. When he died, he left it to me. But to use it now was just stupid. Barbara Gordon had Jump City police watching that van. If I took it out of the garage before I was sixteen I would be thrown in jail faster than Mom could run up Dad's damn credit card bill. Wally and Jen had a car that they were perfectly willing to lend me, but Jesse always had it. Now he was taking Rose everywhere. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

Soon, Dad began driving Mom around. That's when Jen confided in me that Barbara had kicked him out of bed. Now he decided to spend time with my mother. The damn bastard. So now I was stranded at the Tower. I was starting to get used to Jesse driving me around. Now I was bored. My plants had reached the stage where they flourished on their own and the animated ones were a little bitchy and didn't want to be touched. Even my little Koriander didn't want me near her. I had beaten Randy, Gar, Vic, _and_ Wally at so many video games so many times that they didn't want me near them anymore because they needed to lick their wounds. Jen was so irritable lately that she could honestly say she hated Wally and me, the people who were around her more than anyone else in the Tower. Dad was so desperate to get Mom in bed that he postponed training with me so he could be with her. Mom was taking advantage of this so my parents were never home. I hated Karen; Rachel and Cat were always meditating to try to stabilize Cat's powers. I was alone. Completely and utterly alone. So I worked on some of my other hobbies that I never worked on anymore. I tried playing the old piano Karen bought and never touched again. Dad made me take lessons when I was four and I had to juggle those, recitals, practice with him, and practice with Shadow for four years. Then I only had practice with Dad, lessons, and recitals. I quit lessons when I was thirteen and in the Jokerz. When I got tired of playing the piano, I worked on Karen's garden in the backyard that she had given up hope in, when I got tired of that, I moved on to another of Karen's forgotten projects. Then I got sick of that.

Then Rose and Jesse's relationship hit a road bump. She needed to spend time with her mother and less time with him. Jesse understood however. Then he spent as much time with me as possible. He played video games with me and watched movies with me like we used to before I joined the Jokerz. But something was different. He was constantly staring at me. He was looking at me differently. Almost like the way Wally would look at Jen or Gar would look at Rachel. The lovesick puppy look. But I ignored the look and things returned to normal. We hung out and I helped him with some work he had to do in school. But I couldn't get Rose out of my mind. There was something about her that just didn't seem right. But I didn't tell Jesse I thought that. Ever since he started dating Rose, he had begun to act very defensive over her. It was like she was helpless and he was her sole protector. Like I said, it was disgusting.

Despite that nagging gut feeling, that was _always_ right, I just hung out with Jesse like I used to.

"Would you rather live on Tameran and fly or live here and have no powers?" Jesse asked tossing a card into his old baseball cap. We were trying to see how many we could get in there.

"Tough one. Can I become an evil overlord and enslave the entire race?" I asked honestly tossing a card.

"Duh." Jess laughed. "Why _wouldn't _you?" It was obvious he was still upset that some Tameranian noble thought that Jesse was my pet. "Your turn."

"Hypothetically speaking…" I said, "If you weren't dating Rose, who would you rather date: Barbara Gordon or your mother?"

"Mari!" Jesse yelped. Pink rays shot from his finger and flipped over the hat. He raced over and turned it over and sat back down. "My _mother_?! Come on!"

"Fine. Gordon or me." I relented. "Your mother's too good for you." He shoved me playfully.

"Hm. Saggy-chest Gordon or…you."

"Bastard." I smirked.

"You." He said nonchalantly. "You're a lot prettier and your chest isn't sagging…yet."

"That's what seventy million breast implants does to you…and Botox."

"Don't forget the Botox." He laughed. He flipped the last card into the hat. "Made every single one."

"Except for the one before that."

"I would have if you didn't suggest that I date my own mother." He said.

"Who _wouldn't_ want to date your mother?" I asked. "Besides you?"

"Would you?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Why not?" I shrugged earning a look of surprise and terror from those neon pink eyes of his. Then he laughed. He knew I was joking.

"Would you rather have Slade as your real father or Richard."

"Before Slade died?"

"Nope."

"After he went legit?"

"Yep."

"Can him call him 'Slam Master S'?"

"Uh…why?" Jesse asked.

"'Cause." I said softly. He looked at me like I was crazy. "Slade." I answered.

"You mean 'Slam Master S' don't you?" He asked.

"Of course." I smiled. We both laughed.

That was the very last time Jesse and I spent alone after that. That was the last time we ever laughed together like that. You know what? I think that is the very last time we were ever that close--I mean _really _close for about six _years_. The next time period is a time I like to call: hell. Pure unadulterated hell.

**A/N: Thanks for reading so far. Please review!! I want some feedback! I want to thank Somewhere in Time and jcyz for reviewing.**


	5. F o u r

**Disclaimer: TTNG belongs to me, but Teen Titans belongs to Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my (so far…hopefully) only reviews jcyz and Somewhere in Time. Most of this chapter is flashbacks, but someone told me I needed some, so here they are.**

F o u r

_**New Years Eve, 2016**_

_I lifted the heavy dagger and tested it in my hand. I was only four years old then; just turned on the 21__st__. Dad was talking to some woman on the phone. I guessed it was my mother because the words of love from his lips were only things Daddies said to Mommies; little did I know it was Barbara Gordon instead of my mother. I was excited. I had finally graduated from learning how to use a bo-staff to using a dagger. _

"_Mariander." My father said. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he was in his white training clothes, as was I. I smiled widely and bounced up and down on my toes, occasionally lifting off the ground and feeling air beneath my feet. "Mariander." He said sternly. I stopped and lowered to the ground. "Today is the day you will begin working with daggers." He whipped his out and let it glint in the light. "These are very good for close contact fighting and if your enemy is…" He stopped to let me answer._

"_If my enemy is escaping or about to injure and or kill one of my comrades'." I said perfectly. I saw the sides of his mouth twitch upward for a brief second._

"_Good." He said. "You must never allow your dagger to injure you. You must _always_ have…"_

"_One hundred percent control over my dagger or _daggers_ at all times." I replied._

"_You must always use what when throwing a dagger?" He quizzed quickly, but I was eagerly ready for him._

"_One hundred percent accuracy and precision." I replied. He frowned deeply._

"_Wrong." He said, "_More_ than 100. You must always hit your target."_

"_Yes, Daddy." I replied. I accidentally slid the dagger into my thumb. "Ouch." I said softly, tears beginning to well in my eyes. Blood began to run down my finger._

"_Let's begin." My father said, not noticing my injury. I nodded. _

_My father began with basic jabs first. I got those well enough, but not well enough for him. Next was defense maneuvers and shielding myself with the daggers. I wasn't so great at that. Then there was tossing them. I was awful at them. My father began to get frustrated. He began to get short tempered with me and snappish. My injured thumb was hurting by the time I was allowed a five minute break. Blood was running down my hand and I allowed the tears to flow down my cheeks. How could he have not noticed I was hurt? Sure, he did this when I was working with bo-staffs, but now you could _see_ the injury now. _

"_Mariander," My father barked. "What are you doing?" _

"_N-nothing, Da-Daddy." I said mopping my eyes and sniffling. "I hurt my thumb." That was the biggest mistake I had ever made in my entire life._

"_Hurt? You think that _hurts_?" He asked advancing towards me. I nodded. He glared at me. "You have no idea what real pain is. Mariander, are you a Grayson?"_

"_Of course, D-Daddy!" I answered, still sobbing. My father slapped me across the face, flinging me to the other side of the room afterward. _

"_Mariander, you can't be." He said, "_Real_ Graysons aren't weak! _Real _Graysons don't cry. _REAL_ Graysons know that they don't show their weaknesses. __**CRYING IS A SIGN OF **__**WEAKNESS**_!!"_ Before I knew it, I was being flung around and slashed with his dagger. I couldn't block his rapid, furious swipes, but I managed to run and curl into a ball into the corner. But he wouldn't stop. Suddenly, I felt the dagger gash deeply into my back. I cried out in agony and terror. _

"_Richard!" My mother gasped. She had just returned from shopping. I took the moment's pause to my advantage and grabbed my dagger and ran. I ran as fast as I could out of the apartment and down the stairs. I didn't stop once I got in the lobby of the apartment building and I didn't stop until I collapsed in some alley on Ninth Street. My last memory was of a man with his face hidden in the shadows. _

_**April, 2017**_

_The man who I saw was Shadow. He called the ambulance and, after I was discharged, took care of me. He taught me how to perfect my dagger-skills and how to do acrobatics. Shadow took care of me…_he _was my father in my eyes. After the "accident" I never let myself cry again. In return for that act, I was never able to fly again, not even when I reached adulthood. I had crippled myself in that area. Shortly after I turned twelve, I realized that I was bipolar, another punishment for my cold-heartedness. My father and I became as distant as ever. I decided that I needed a father who wouldn't abuse me. That was why I picked Shadow._

"_Shadow?" I asked._

"_Yes, Mar?" He replied. We were sitting in the old abandoned warehouse on the harbor. _

"_Why do you always spend so much time with me? Don't you have a family of your own? Why waste time with me?"_

"_Because," he replied not letting me see his face, "I'm not wasting my time. You are a very clever little girl, Mari Grayson. Your father just doesn't know how to appreciate that. You'll be stronger than him one day, I bet." He sighed. "That's all the personal talk for today."_

"_Okay," I relented. Somehow I knew that something bad had happened to his real family. I gave him a hug. "I love you, Shadow."_

"_I love you too, Mari." he said. Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was smiling._

_**June, 2018**_

_Dad walked into the apartment with an "I guess" pretty woman, the kind that you thought wasn't that pretty, but was in her own way. She had a huge chest, Ds or Cs maybe, and bright red hair and icy cold blue eyes. Dad smiled widely at her. Right then I knew something was wrong. Dad never smiled at Mom like that. _

"_Mari," He said using my nickname, something he never did, "this is my friend, Barbara Gordon. Babs, this is my daughter, Mari."_

"_Mariander Jean Grayson." I corrected proudly._

"_Mariander?" Barbara echoed. _

"_It means _Nightstar_ in Tameranian, you know where my mom comes from." I said proudly. Dad frowned. Barbara laughed and pinched my cheek. I swatted her away. Like dogs when they know they don't like some people, I had a sixth sense about people, especially redheads throwing themselves all over my father in _extremely_ low-cut blouses. I shrugged and went back to cutting up Mom's outdated Sear's catalog. _

"_She's so cute, Dick." She laughed, "Spitting image of you, too."_

"Wally_ says I'm the spitting image of my _mother_." I smiled sweetly. "I just have my dad's ugly black hair and his cold, unforgiving hawk eyes."_

"_Mariander!" My dad hissed. _

"_It's okay, Dick." Barbara laughed. I hated her laugh. "Don't we have _better_ things to do?" She suggestively raised her over tweezed eyebrows. Dad laughed and pulled her towards his and my mother's room. I heard laughter coming from there the rest of the night._

_**0O0O0**_

_**Present Day- June, 2027**_

There are some people who look back at their past and think of happy memories. When I look back at my childhood, preferably after Shadow left me, I think of pain and misery. My first happy memory in Gotham was when Murray and I became close. Even after that, there were some bad memories too. The good ones and the bad ones aren't important to this story, not yet. If I were to tell them too you, you would be confused because they have absolutely nothing to do with Rose Wilson or Jesse West. They involve Murray Flanders, Donna Joanne North, William North Jr, and Dane Matthews.

Anyway, I digest. Back to the problem if you have forgotten (like Randy would): Jesse, who is a strange little freak who I've known since birth, needed to get a girlfriend so that he would loosed up and leave me the hell alone. So I hooked him up with some big chested girl named Rose Wilson, whose last name reminded me of someone in the Titan's Mainframe (which we were forbidden to use, that I used behind my father's back). Now my plan had begun to slowly backfire on me. Now Rose was around 24/7 and had taken Jesse, one of the people who barely understood me, away from me. Now I had no one to hang out with and nothing to do. But like some dead guy used to say: you tend to notice more things when your bored than when you are busy doing something.

0O0O0

Rose and Jesse were cuddling on the couch and I was downloading music on my mp3 player. My guilty pleasure--Taylor Swift. She was someone who I had to listen to when I had to share a cell a few years back in jail with a die hard country fan overnight. After hearing "Our Song" and "Tim McGraw" fifty times a day, you get hooked. Of course, no one knew. Listening to something that wasn't hard core and head banging that gives you migranes would damage my reputation, right? Actually, I didn't give a damn who knew what I listened to. It was all a little of everything anyway. Besides, nothing is better than catching my father humming "Girlfriend" and Fergie without him even realizing it because I played them all the time. _That _is YouTube worthy.

I had my headphones on so I didn't have to listen to their lovey-dovey lovebird talk. How disgusting! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against love, really. I was still skeptical about it. After all, what good has "love" ever done to me? For some reason , I felt slightly jealous. I shook it off and went back to downloading music. Several times I looked up and saw Rose studying me carefully, which creeped me out. You have to understand that this was 2027. If you weren't dirty-minded, you couldn't be in a gang. To be perverted and to use your body to your advantage was how you were trained in the Jokerz. If you didn't catch on, you were kicked out. Even Harley-Quinns (whores) knew how to do it. Of course, if I accused Rose of checking me out, Jesse would be angry. Then I began studying her, wondering what was it about her that made her so damn irresistible. She had recently cut her long blonde hair to her shoulders and had lightened it a little. She was wearing a short skirt and a shirt that hung on her shoulders, revealing her perfect collarbone. Damn blonde. Then I saw it. Something inside her eye moved, and not her pupil either. Something clicked inside my brain. Computer. She had a computer eyeball, something that had been invented in 2010. It was also something I knew very little about. But I knew someone who did know.

0O0O0

I knocked on the door and opened it after a distracted moan answered me. Randy was sitting at the desk looking at something with great interest. I quietly snuck up behind him and examined it. I wasn't surprised to see pictures of scantily clad video game characters (women, of course) on the screen.

"Hello, Randall." I whispered in his ear. He jumped.

"SHIT!!" He yelped. "Dammit, Mari. Don't sneak up on me and close the door. I don't want my mother to see this."

"Clear out your damn browser then."

"What the hell do I look like, Grayson." Randy laughed, "A noob?"

"Whatever." I said. "I need your help." Of course, I had never said anything like this before, and we were such rivals that he could hardly believe me.

"_My _help? Where's the cameras?" He asked, half serious and half joking.

"I'm serious, Randy." I said. "It kinda requires some hacking." That interested him.

"Pull up a chair." He said. I obeyed. He closed the window and cleared his browser. "What do you need."

"Computer operated eyeballs."

"Huh?"

"Rose has one." I said, "at least I think she does. I want to make sure and see what I'm getting myself into."

Randy entered a search and looked at the page for a few minutes. We were both silent. For about ten minutes the only sound in the entire room was the sound of the computer keys being pressed.

"Got it." He pulled up a page. "Professor Chang's Computerized Prosthetic Non-Shocking Eyeballs. Damn, these things are _expensive_! Shit!"

"What!?" I said sitting up straight.

"One eye is about as strong as the Titans Mainframe!"

"Damn!" I exclaimed. "Can you pull up an address of where you can buy one?" Randy pressed a few keys and sighed.

"Nope, you can only order online."

"Shit." I said, "Is it possible to find a list of people who have bought one?"

"Nope," He said, "But, hey! I think I can find a list of patients who have been bought one via Chang."

"Great!"

We were silent for a few more minutes. I listened at the door for a few minutes, making sure his mother wasn't coming or worse, Jesse. Randy eventually found Chang's website, but he had to hack into the "heart of the site", whatever that meant.

"Got it!" He said happily, like when he won at _Spyro the Dragon 9.0 _a few years back. "Here it is."

"You rock out loud, Randy!" I said returning to my seat. I scanned the list and found Rose's name. I was further rewarded--her name was a link. Randy clicked the link and suddenly, we had her entire medical history and her past. Randy quickly favorited it in case we had to refer to it later.

"Wonder why she needs a prothetic eye." He said. "You think Jess knows?"

"Doubt it." I said, "You know how shallow he is." I saw something that really surprised me. "Randy, look! Rose is the Eye Baby!"

The Eye Baby was a freak legend in Jump City. You see, when Slade was fighting my father for his life, someone was watching. Everyone always assumed it was his lover. When she saw Slade being murdered, she "dutifully" gauged her baby's eye out. No one knew who the woman or the baby was…until now.

"Uh, Mari?" Randy said worriedly.

"Yeah, Randy?" I said.

"Why is the name Slade Wilson so familiar?"

**A/N: Hm…why **_**is **_**the name **Slade Wilson** so familiar to Randy and Mari? Don't worry, they'll find out next chapter. R&R!**


	6. F i v e

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans **** Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: Thanks for the Reviews! They make me so happy! I based the first part of the Mari/Ravager fight loosely on a fight at my school a few weeks ago. It was one of the most pathetic fights of the who school year. So I felt the urge to make Mari go through a really bad fight first.**

F i v e

Slade Wilson. He was nowhere to be found. Not in the Titans Mainframe, not in the city library, not even in any of the old obituaries. Yet, somehow I felt like an idiot because it seemed like it should be so obvious. But it seemed that he was Rose's father. I made Randy swear on his Wii2 that he wouldn't tell Jesse or anyone. I promised on my life that I would keep him in the loop. Too bad I really didn't care much about my life. I promised him that I would convince Wally to let me borrow his car and go to City Hall as soon as I could. Unfortunately, a new villain arrived on the scene and had begun to steal xenothium.

Xenothium, as you might know, was a power source in the early 2000s. In the early 2010s, however, it became one of the most lethal yet popular drugs in the world. It was a red, thick liquid that could easily be injected into your bloodstream. It gave you a great high, but as soon as it wore off, you'd have horrible seizures and spasms that somewhat resembled Jen's relapses. There were two ways to prevent this: you could inject more xenothium into your blood or use medicine to soothe the pain. However, no one usually used this. By now, you'd have XODD, xenothium over-dosage disorder. You'd get it from the first _drop_ of xenothium to touch your blood cells. There was no cure. Thank the Jokerz for it. They were not only the ones who discovered this street drug, but they were the lead drug dealers of xenothium. Trust me, I had sold a few syringes of xenothium in my lifetime. I'm not proud of it now, but back when I was in the Jokerz (before Murray set me straight) I was. It was highly contagious. Many children were born with it and many, both adult and child, died from it. The babies born with it were lucky to see three months. However, one lived past babyhood without using xenothium. There was only four people who seemed to be immune to XODD's effects somehow. DJ, BJ, Murray, and myself. I didn't know how. I had never taken the AXODD (anti-xenothium over-dosage disorder) serum in my life. But even though I had used xenothium when I fourteen in heists, I had never gotten sick. There were several types of xenothium. D-xenothium was the weakest and X-xenothium was the strongest. Like any good (ex) Joker, I had several crates of xenothium stashed away and several syringes hidden on my body for protection. Mostly in case one of Dane's minions wanted to be an as whole and try something with me now that I was "a wanted woman" for the Jokerz.

Her name was Ravager. She was the daughter of Slade, my father's enemy. She was extremely proud of that fact, she even told a reporter that the first time she came into the picture. She walked around with her father's robotic minions, but was as good as fighting as I was. She wore a blue and orange spandex suit and kept a mask over her face. You couldn't even see her hair. She carried around two swords called katanas on her back and was extremely capable of using it. That was one thing I wasn't so good at. My father decided that it was one skill that would prove to be worthless to me. She was bad news. Anyone who even _wanted_ to get involved with xenothium was in for a world of hurt. Ravager was all over the news. She had outwitted all of the Titans. Jesse, Cat, Randy, and I were not allowed to participate in anything dangerous. Jen and Karen had managed to put their foot (feet) down there. Jesse and Cat wanted to help, but Randy and I knew better. He was untrained and I didn't give a shit what happened to the team. Hey, what else was an antisocial teen who hated the world, and her father, supposed to think? Guess who discovered who Slade Wilson was? Our little popular bitch wannabe Catherine Arella Logan. But I found out far too late. I finally caught a cab and went to City Hall. By the time Cat tried to warn me…_she_ had already found me.

0O0O0

I snuck into one of the back offices and quickly praised Randy for giving me the codes to get into one of the computers. I sat down in front of one that was already logged into the system and typed in _Slade Wilson_ into the…uh…place where you type in names. If you haven't figured out by now I wasn't a computer wiz, don't feel bad. It took me six years after this event to figure it out to be honest. As long as the damn things worked and I got what I wanted, I was happy. Too bad Jump City couldn't afford faster computers. It took twenty minutes to load on page! I clicked the first link. That was when I felt like the biggest retard alive. _Slade_ Wilson. Slade. Slade Wilson who was Deathstroke the Terminator in the '90s, but became just Slade, my father's greatest enemy. Which meant one thing. Rose and Ravager were the same person.

"Hello, Mari."

"Hello, Rose." I said slowly turning around, not the least bit surprised by her being there. "Or should I say, Ravager." And there she was in her costume.

"You know," She laughed, "You're far too nosy for your own good."

"I wouldn't have found out if you weren't checking me out with that fake eye of yours." I replied coolly. She only laughed.

"You think your tough words affect me?" She asked. She slowly revealed a katana. "I know all about you, Mariander. Thanks to Jesse that is."

"So you were using him." I said angrily getting up. Her robotic minions sprang into the room.

"No…I wasn't." She said, "Jesse was the first person to treat me like I was really something. I just had to use him that once."

"Jesse's shallow as a puddle!" I scoffed cruelly. "Once he finds out you only have one real eye. He'll leave you."

"He loves you!" She screamed, slapping me across the face in the process. "He's only using me to make you jealous! I love him, but I know in his mind he's comparing my every move to you!"

"You suffer from psychosis, don't you." I asked calmly. "Your mind is cracked, weak. I bet you're bipolar too, aren't you."

"You bitch!" Rose hit me again. "You don't know what it's like do you. You have both of your parents. My mother and damn Wintergreen raised me! My mother gave me some serum when I was small to give me most of my abilities. I always had to be perfect! She always compared me to my--_dead_--father! She took out my eye as a tribute to him!"

"Shut up!" I slapped her. "So what?! Because of your damn piece of shit father, _my_ father has abused me and practically beaten me because I will never be perfect for him. He cheats on my mother because she's _weak_. He took away my _flight_, my emotions! I haven't shed a single tear in eleven years because of him! Look at this!" I lifted up my shirt and turned around showing her the scar on my back. "Rose, your father _loved_ you. It's obvious that was the reason that he quit being evil. I bet he held you when you were born, even though he didn't live long after that. When I was born my father pushed me away! He cut me with daggers, beat me with bo-staffs, thrown me off ledges and God knows what else! Don't you dare complain you damn bitch."

"At least your mother is there!"

"Like hell she is!" I returned fiery. "If she's not on Tameran, she's at the mall. I bet you look like your mother."

"So?"

"I don't. My mother is one of the most beautiful people in Jump City, Rose. I'm plainer than dirt. I'll never be beautiful like my mother, Rose. People on Tameran look at me and think I'm my mother's _niece_, not her daughter. They think I'm the daughter of the woman who tried to kill her sister, killed her parents, and banished her brother to some far off planet just because she wanted to rule and be powerful. Just once…" I paused for a moment so I could catch my breath, "Just once, Rose, I want my father to tell me that he loves me, even if he's lying. Just once I want praise from him instead of a smile I have to pick out of the constant frown on his face. Just once I want to be beautiful like my mother or maybe just her be proud of me for being her daughter instead of being constantly embarrassed. Do you know who practically raised me from childhood? Jennifer West, Jesse's _mother_ who is sick with Russo's Disease, and some man whose face I've never seen who abandoned me when I was eight and saved my life when I was four and thirteen."

This, my friends, is what happens when you put two very emotion, very bipolar teenage girls in one small (10'x9') room. With each remark from one girl, the other would slap her in the face. To be honest, it was one of the worst fights I had ever been in. There is one thing that you never do in a good fight (or a really pathetic one). You never drag shit into it that really doesn't concern you. Like Rose's issues with her mother. I would never drag that into a fight unless she drug some of my problems with my _mother_ into a fight. That was how you fought in 2027. Unfortunately, Rose decided to drag in shit that didn't concern her… not in the least bit.

"So, did you really kill Murray? Jesse's been wondering the same thing." Rose asked "innocently". Now the damn bitch had to die. No one brought Murray's name into fight. Especially when the bitch didn't even know him. I slugged her across the face, but she only laughed. "Did I hit a nerve, Mari?" I took out my dagger (I always carried two beneath my clothes along with my syringes of xenothium and my bo-staff).

"Shut up, Rose." I warned.

"Why?" She asked cocking her head. "Jesse talks about you _all_ the time. About how much of a loner you are. About how you don't seem to trust anyone. How you've only acted like a bitch since you met Murray. About how you tried committing suicide in juvie. About how you are cruel, cold, not trusting, how you push him away. He even says you'll end up being just like your father."

I didn't reply, at least not with words. I punched her in the face and leapt on her slashing at her madly. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now we had to good part. Two angry, hostile, bipolar girls (and twenty robots) had just gone into battle with daggers and katanas. Blood spewed from everywhere. Luckily, I knew how to protect myself. Unfortunately, I could hardly protect myself from Rose _and_ her robots at the same time.

"Give up, Grayson!" She screamed.

"Never, Rose." Now only my anger was powering me. Jesse had betrayed my trust. I may have been untrusting, but I still trusted Jesse as much as I could. Now I knew. He loved Rose so much he would tell her all she wanted to know about me. That made me angry. I fought with malice now—pure malice. I wanted blood. I wanted Jesse West's blood to be exact. I pushed Rose into a file cabinet. She punched me in the face and literally threw me across the room. She was definitely stronger than I thought. I gave her a dirty look and tossed a dagger at her as she smirked at me. I smiled as blood leaked out of her upper arm. She jumped on me and tried to punch me, but I pushed her away.

"I hate you, Mari Grayson!" She cried. She jumped on me, but I kicked her away before she landed.

She just stood above me. Neither of us moved. We could have been the best of friends, really. We had the same interests and the same troubled pasts if you really look at it...maybe it was the same thing with Randy and me. Our fathers pitted us against each other since Randy came into the world. Maybe it was the same with Rose and me. The older I got, the more I realized that maybe I should have changed things. The older I got, the more I thought about the question "what if". What if I had sat down and thought about what Dane had done to Murray instead of dedicated my life to killing him? What if I had gone on the raid that had killed hundreds of Xs, an enemy gang? What if I had sat down with Rose and really talked about everything that had happened instead of fighting her? I guess no one will ever know, right?

The electricity between the two of us was obvious. She halted her robots. She sighed.

"I'll get you back, Grayson. I promise you." She swore. "Just you wait!" I watched Rose and her robots leave. I wiped blood from under my nose.

"What a weird bitch." I said. "If she wasn't going to fight right, why bother?" I got up and left the destroyed room. There was someone I had to kill now: Jesse West.

0O0O0

I slammed Randy against the wall. He looked terrified and like he was about to piss his pants. Of course, that's what usually happens when an angry super-strong teenage girl with glowing blue fists and eyes attacks you from nowhere after kicking down five 5,000 steel doors.

"_**WHERE. IS. HE?**_ " I asked angrily pushing him closer to the wall with each word.

"W-where's w-w-who?" He stuttered.

"Jesse!" I spat.

"Mari?" Jesse and the Titans were behind me. None of them had seen me so pissed before. I was pleased to see fear in Jesse's eyes...very deep down that is.

"I spoke with Rose." I said coldly.

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT BITCH REALLY IS!?" I screamed. "Rose Wilson is the daughter of _Slade_ Wilson. You know, Dad's old buddy, _Slade_."

"So you guys had the fight?" Cat asked. She saw my confused look. "I...had a vision that Rose was saying that she was his daughter and that she was really Ravager and that you two fought over Jesse."

"It wasn't over _Jesse_!" I shrieked in disgust. "It was over what _Jesse_ told her."

"What did I tell her?" Jesse asked. He was very pissed off.

"Everything!" I shouted. "You...you told her everything about me, my past...nothing that concerned either of you!"

"So," Jesse countered. His eyes were turning pink with rage. "You shouldn't of butted into her business. Randy told me, Mari."

"He made me!" Randy squeaked meekly.

"She's _Slade's_ daughter, Jesse. Do you think I want you hanging around that trash?" I asked.

"It's none of your damn business! I'll hang around my _girlfriend_ if I want to!"

"Not around here." My father said from his dark corner.

"What?!"

"She nearly killed Mari. She's not to come around here anymore." He pushed off the wall and left. I was touched. I never thought my father cared before.

"Jesse," I said, feeling terrible on the inside, "don't ever talk to me again. Because I sure as hell don't want to talk to you." I walked/ran to my room, feeling as if a semi-truck had fallen on my heart.

**A/N: I suck at fight scenes. :( I'm so ashamed! R&R though!**


	7. S i x

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros & DC Comics.**

**A/N: Naturally, I based John off of some of the guys from my "wonderful (not really)" home state of Alabama.**

S i x 

Weeks passed and Jesse stayed home (or went to Rose's house) all the time now because he was out for summer vacation. Rachel let Cat, Randy, and me take a breather from lessons. Jesse and I still weren't speaking. If we had anything to say to each other, we'd play telephone. Cat and Randy were caught in between our rages. Jesse never brought Rose back to the Tower again. He respected my father, even if only because my father was the leader of the Titans. Meanwhile, I was still surprised that my father even cared about me. Usually, he only showed that he cared when it involved him in some way and benefited him.

The only reason he protected me like that was because I had found out that his nemesis had a daughter and I was now her rival. He was proud of me, in his own weird way. I was scared that I would become just like him. Which made me wonder, if I did kill Dane one day...would I become just like him? If I did, I'd kill myself, plain and simple. My father wanted to stay in the loop and even allowed Randy and me (Rachel and Gar didn't want Cat to participate) to find out all we could about Rose and who her mother might be.

I had met one other guy while I was in Jump City, Jesse's friend, John. Everyone called him an All-American boy. If he was what represented America, I wanted to immigrate as far away as possible. He was dumb as a rock and a football player. How Jesse, who had a high GPA and all As, could be friends with someone as stupid as John, low GPA and Ds and Fs, was beyond me. Not even his _parents_ liked John. But Jesse trusted John and told him everything about everything. Especially girls...like Rose Wilson. That same John had a crush on me. You can see where I'm going right?

Dad approved of my plan, but I told no one else. In case you don't realize _what_ the plan is, it's get John out on a date, butter him up, and get him to tell me everything about Rose that he could. The only thing I had to worry about was running into Rose, her androids, or worse—Jesse. Although I was not talking to him, I would be in so much trouble with Vic and the other Titans (except my father). Plus, if Rose found out, there was no telling what kind of shit I would get into. Do you have any idea how hard those damn robots of Rose's hurt!? The fight we had left three huge holes in the wall at City Hall (they had the police checking into two freakish girls with superpowers destroying City Hall)

"Um...hello?" I said nervously on the phone. "John?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"This is Mari Grayson, you know, Jesse's..._friend_?" I winced as I said friend.

"Mari...Mari...Mari...oh, Mari. 'Sup, dude...ette?"

"Nothing really." I answered uncomfortablely. "Say, I don't really know my way around town yet. It would be awesome if someone...say, you, could show me around."

"Around?" He repeated. "You mean...like around _town_?"

"Yeah! Say like a...date?"

"A...date? As in...a date?" He asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Hey, Mari, want to go on a date?" John said. I swear, what the hell was I getting myself into?

"Sure." I said wearily. "what time?"

"Time?" This made me want to bash my head against a wall. "What about..."

"Seven? PM?" I added hastily.

"Sure."

"Saturday?"

"Sure, see ya then, dude...ette."

By the time I hung up, I had a horrible headache. People in this town were so stupid! I laid back on my bed. If there was ever a time I had to use my training from being in the Jokerz, it was now. I opened the mini-fridge next to my bed and pulled out a beer I filched from Wally two weeks before. Luckily for me, Tameranian genetics didn't allow me to get drunk. Good thing too, because I really needed the alcohol in my hand at the moment.

0O0O0

Saturday came faster than I had hoped. But I was ready for it. By six-thirty, I had already gotten my hair done and I was already picking out a dress. Luckily, I would be prepared anyway if Rose's robots came. After all, what better way to kill an X than with the stilettos from your own high heels? Unfortunately, I wasn't a girly-girl like my mother. I had forgotten that I didn't even _own_ a dress. Of course, now I had a problem.

I couldn't ask Karen, all of her clothes were much too big for me. I couldn't ask Rachel, her clothes were _way_ too revealing, even for an ex-Joker. Jen was out of the question since she didn't really get out much anymore. On the other hand, my mother didn't either, yet she had closets full of fancy dresses. Which, we realized, were way too big in the bust area for me to use. It was hopeless.

"Wait here!" She said excitedly. She rushed out of the bedroom she shared with my father. If she was thinking of altering one of her frocks for me, she was out of luck. There was no way you could alter the bust of those damn things to fit me. That was _way_ too much cloth. I thought of what I had to Rose about my jealousy of my mother and was ashamed. I had never told anyone that before, and no doubt the bitch would use it against me. My mother rushed back into the room with a dress.

"Where did you get this?" I asked. It was way too small to fit here.

"I only wore it once, when I was dating someone besides your father when I was a little older than you. It was a little snug then, but it might just fit you because I was your size when I was your age."

"Really?" I asked with hope.

"Except your breasts are a bit smaller." She said distractedly.

"Damn it." I hissed beneath my breath. "Thanks for lending it to me, Mom." I said pulling off my clothes. I started to try on the dress. It was a little bit too big in the bust area, but otherwise it fit me perfectly.

"Don't be silly, Mariander." She laughed, "I'm giving it to you."

"You...you are?!"

"Of course," She said pinning it in the back for me. "I certainly can't wear it any longer. Besides, it was attracting dust in the upper room."

"You mean," I suggested nicely, "collecting dust in the attic?"

"That's what I said." She said. "Done." She pulled away from me and examined me head to toe. "Now all we need to do is find some shoes and put on some makeup and we'll be all done!"

I was finished quickly with time to spare. I examined the dress. It was gorgeous. It was off the shoulder and black silk that reached a little past my knees. It was extremely comfortable. I wore black shoes with it and for once in my life I had the right amount of makeup.

"You look lovely, my little bumgorf. I'm so proud of you!" She said as we stood in front of the mirror together. I guess some girls would take that as a term of endearment, but just hearing those words made me so happy. If only I had someone to talk to about it...someone I trusted.

"Thanks mom." I smiled.

"You look like a darker haired, younger, blue eyed version of me when I wore this dress." She sighed. For a moment I thought I heard her sigh "Xavier" too. Maybe that was her old boyfriend. She smoothed the dress and stroked my hair affectionately. "I never thought I'd see this day." She said kissing my forehead. I think that is the first time my mother really said that she was proud of me. I wished that she would say it more often.

John arrived on time, surprisingly. How I wished I had a camera so that I could take a picture of Jesse's face when he found out that I was going out on a date with his best friend. I wish I could capture the cold eyes and angry pink eyes. No one could believe that _I _was actually wearing a dress for the first time in...my life. Especially one that fit me as well as that black one did. I guess the hullabaloo about the "little black dress" was true. We left the tower quickly. I probably look eager, but really I wanted to get the dirt on Rose and get home before my brain exploded from all the stupidity John was spewing everywhere.


	8. S e v e n

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: Fight scene may not be that great. I'm taking some advice and using "adjectives". :-)**

S e v e n

So here I was...on a date with John Markey, Jesse's best friend, who was the dumbest guy I had ever met in hopes that I could get the dirt on Rose, Jesse's girlfriend who was actually Ravager, daughter of Slade. And here I thought Jump City was boring! Like any good storyteller, I would love to skip the whole damn thing and spare you the agony. But of course, this is not a story, like one being told by a Girl Scout Leader. This is a story of everything that has happened to me since I was fifteen to when I was finally free of my father. So I'm afraid I have to tell you every last excruciating detail. I'll go ahead and apologize. Sorry.

"So," John said. Like any other bonehead asshole who doesn't use their brains, he only thought about _sex_ rather than _**really**_showing a girl a good time. So he took me to a make-out point just outside of town. It was obvious that sex was on his mind. Fat chance he was getting any from me either. "You're really from Gotham."

"Of course," I laughed flirtatiously. "That city was really fun. Not like here. The only excitement I get is when I get thrown through a wall by some robots or Jesse's girlfriend., you know—Ravager?"

"Dude, Jesse never told me that!" John exclaimed.

"That's something we have in common, Johnny-Boy." I said. "He never told me either and hey, we've been tight since diapers." My plan was working! I could see the Neanderthal-like anger in John's eyes. Jesse had been holding out on him. "John," I said seriously, "Rose is a very dangerous person. She's using Jesse. If she gets her way, he could die." I didn't mention that _I _might be the one killing Jesse.

"Huh?"

"The pain he will experience if Rose gets her way would be like if seventeen two hundred and fifty pound linebackers ran over him. Multiple times." I said in "football" terms. Already I felt my IQ drop a little.

"Dude!"

"I know!"

"Dude!"

"I know!" I said.

"_**Dude**_!"

"_**I KNOW!**_" I shouted. I regained my cool. "John, if you could tell me _anything _you know about Rose that could help—."

"I dunno." John said. "I don't think I want to help unless a real organization could help my best bro with his freaky chick." And _I _was impossible to understand.

"You would be helping an organization. A _secret_ organization." I said. Then I realized what organization would really believe me?

"What's it called?" He asked fascinated.

"Um..." I thought for a moment, then remembered the old name I used to call Jesse, Cat, Randy, and myself when we were preteens (before the Jokerz). "TTNG, the newest generation of Teen Titans. You tell us everything you know about Rose, and we'll take care of the rest!"

0O0O0

Needless to say, John sang like a canary. Lucky for me, he completely forgot why he _really_ took me out on a date and drove me back to the Tower. Now I had to tell Cat and Randy about what I had learned. As for my father, I realized, perhaps it was too soon for him to get involved with another Wilson. I didn't want _accomplice to murder_ on my record. Suspect was bad enough! Besides, I decided, maybe having the Teen Titans back would do Jump City some good.

All those stopped when I saw the ambulance in front of the Tower. That meant only one thing: a hearse might be on its way. Jen was really, really sick and Raven's medicine and powers could do her weak body any good. That was when Vic called the paramedics. John, who was no help at all in a crisis, just dropped me off. I rushed inside past everyone and ran to her room. Jesse was sitting against the door with his knees up and his head hidden in them and him arms. He looked...helpless.

"Jesse, what happened?" I asked dropping to my knees and instinctively wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He laid against my collarbone and wrapped his arms around me. I quietly rocked our two bodies back and forth.

"Mom had a really bad relapse, Mar." He whispered. He trembled. I was shocked. That was the meekest and most fragile I had ever seen Jesse. "Is she going to die?"

"The doctors are here, sweetie." I said in the softest voice I had ever used. I pulled him into my lap and began to stroke his hair.

"Don't leave again." He begged.

"I won't." I promised. "I'll stay with you tonight if you want."

"Thanks." He said. Then he kissed me.

It wasn't my first kiss, but for some reason, I remember that one better than my first one. Fireworks went off in my brain as I tried to figure out what had just happened. I kissed him back, my first instinct. It felt nice. Despite he had been kissing a whore named Rose Wilson, he was still so inexperienced at kissing, almost like kissing a virgin kisser. He was in such a delicate state, I was almost afraid that if I was too rough with him, he would break like fine china. How I wished I could remain there on the floor with him, letting our lips do the communicating...but it was impossible. Jesse had a girlfriend, one that was very jealous and wanted to kill me. Jesse and I could never be together. Wait, did I even _want_ us together? God, I wished I had gone to prison. No amount of lesbian prison rape would be as stressful as teenage hormones! But for some reason, I couldn't push him away. Nor could I stop him from pulling us up and moving us to his room. Nor I could I stop his hands in time from grabbing the zipper on the back of my dress..._but_ I did manage to push him off when he he started to pull it back.

"I—Jess, I can't." I said softly. "I just can't."

"Can't what?" He asked kindly.

"This. I can't do this." I said pulling the zipper on my dress back up and walking out of the room. Jesse looked so hurt, but I couldn't help it. Right now we were friends again, and his friendship was far too valuable to risk for lust.

0O0O0

Randy and Cat loved the idea of TTNG. They thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Jesse, whom I allowed to tag along (after I told Cat and Randy everything about Rose) thought the name was pretty cool. We could be the new crime fighters in town. We would be a great improvement, seeing as how the Titans had slowly began to go crooked. They did the big crimes, but not the smaller ones. They aided people when supervillians attacked and when they had to go out of town to aide other Titans. Most robberies had gone unnoticed. If the _Teen_ Titans were brought back, maybe this shitty town would be something great—or at least decent. The only town worse than Hump City was Gotham, and that was really saying something.

"Jess," I said, "why don't you check on your mother." I said softly. We were in the laundry room and we were desperately trying to make him leave. Luckily, he was so panicky about his mother that my excuse slash question made him leave in a heartbeat.

"So what are we going to do about Rose?" I asked. "We know a good bit about her weaknesses. Like how she's claustrophobic and how she hates it when people hit her in the face. _Plus_, thanks to the fact that Randy's great on computers, if we kick her in the face right on the side of her face, her computer-eye will pop out and she will be _super_ vulnerable."

"But how are we going to find her?" Cat asked.

"Easy," I smiled wickedly, "Randy, you get in Wally's car and sneak into Rose's purse. We'll follow in my van."

"But you are still on probation!" Cat argued.

"Catherine," I said using her full name, "to enforce the laws, you have to break a few."

"We could get arrested." Randy said agreeing with her.

"No," I said forcefully, "_I'll_ get arrested. And I've been in jail before, but I don't care. I've been in jail before."

Jesse left not long afterwards. Randy was safely hidden in the backseat, two inches tall. Cat cautiously got into my van and we followed them from a safe distance. I watched Jesse pick Rose up at a K-Mart, which was pretty weird. She had cut her hair to her ears and looked pretty pissed. They pulled into an empty lot and got out.

"Transform and keep an eye on them." I commanded her. She nodded and turned into a Siamese cat. I opened the door and she slunk out. I got out locked the car, and hid behind a building. Now either I could save Jesse's life or get him angry with me again.

I heard Rose talk in anxious tones to Jesse. Maybe she was finally telling Jesse what I already knew and tried to tell him. That she was a lying whore and she was really Slade's daughter. Maybe then he would apologize for calling me a lying, crazy bitch. Then a wicked thought rushed to my head. If Jesse dumped her, I'd have a chance at him. I was going to hell for that thought. I just knew I was. After all, wasn't envy one of the seven deadliest sins or something like that.

"Randy!" Jesse yelped. I saw him hold our little thumb sized sized spy by the back of his shirt. "What are you doing here?" Randy changed back to normal.

"I missed you so fervently, Jess. I love you, buddy." He said. He wrapped his arms around Jesse. Jesse blasted him away.

"Randy, damn it! Tell me the truth...Mari sent you didn't she?" He asked. He scanned the area and cursed very colorful when he saw Cat. Jesse was one of the few people who used the f-word. Not even I used it. Cat nervously changed back to normal. She looked like she was about to pass out from the fear. I decided to reveal myself so that I would get most of blame. Randy and Cat were too...innocent. They had never really got in trouble before. Besides, Jesse had his mother's temper—bad.

"Mari, what are you doing here?" He growled. Damn, Rose looked like a drug addict. She had deep bags under her eyes and was so damn gaunt. I had to poke some fun at her. I smiled at Jesse and then looked back at her.

"Rose, no wonder you like Jesse so much." I said. "He's such a great kisser." _That _was a Kodak moment. Her jaw dropped.

"You...You kissed her!?" She yelped. "How could you kiss her!?"

"Rose," Jesse said, "I'm so sorry. Mom had a terrible relapse and I was so scared and upset and Mari had just come home from a date and—."

"He tried to take my clothes off, but I wouldn't let him." I said. A sob escaped Rose's throat.

"Jesse, she really does have a fake eye." Randy said.

"I don't want to hear this! Go home!" Jesse barked. Cat and Randy jumped back. I didn't move. I didn't reply to him. I simply took a half step back and swung my leg towards her face. Just like Randy said, her fake eye popped out. Jesse gasped.

"Tell him." I dared. "Tell him you lied to him. Tell him you attacked me at City Hall. Tell him you're Slade's daughter."

She didn't tell him—she showed him. She pulled out a knife that turned into a katana. I shot Jesse an "I told you so look" and pulled out my bo-staff. The thought of that against just one katana made me a little nervous. But thankfully, she only had one eye to see out of. And I had a reputation: I never missed my target. I always shot daggers and starbolts with 115 accuracy.

"Leave her alone, Rose." Jesse said. Rose looked at him. I smiled as he winced slightly at her ragged appearance.

"But—." She began. I saw that similar anger in her eyes.

"You lied to me, Rose. You told me that Mari did things to you that she never did. You told me that she was crazy and she wasn't. What haven't you lied to me about?" He asked. His eyes were turning pink. Rose trembled. "Leave. Now." He said.

"Jesse," Rose said. "You have your own dirty secrets. Why did you go out with me in the first place? You always compare me to _her._" She pointed to me. "YOU JUST DATED ME BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T DATE HER!!" Suddenly, the earth began to shake. Her robots shot out of everywhere. There were more than last time. A lot more. She took a mad swing at Jesse, but I managed to block her. Have you ever heard fingernails screeching on a chalkboard? That was kinda the sound our weapons were making. Poor Jesse and the others were horrible at fighting. They had never done much training or much fighting. Luckily, Jesse was very adept at using his jinxes, which was a good thing because he really needed to. One real good blast made a robot fall to pieces. Rose and I were almost familiar with each other's fighting techniques so we were pretty well matched, even without her computerized eye.

"Cat!" I shouted. "Use a spell!"

"I can't." She shouted back, "You know how bad I am at it!"

"Cat, you can do it. Use a spell, any spell." Suddenly, Rose punched me in the stomach and I doubled over in pain. She was stronger than she looked. A loud wracking sob escaped my throat. I closed my eyes and prepared to die when suddenly a loud bang erupted through my brain. Even through my eyes I saw pink. I lifted my head and opened my eyes and saw Jesse standing protectively over me. He had singlehandedly wiped out 1/3 of Rose's army and thrown her against a wall. Cat used this moment to take a deep breath and preformed several hand signs.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Nothing happened. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

"Cat," I yelled, "use some emotion." I dodged a robots fist.

"Jesse, Randy, Mari, hang onto something!" She shouted. "_**Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!**_" she shouted with all her might. Jesse grabbed me and pulled me away. Randy charged after us, as did Rose. Fortunately, the ground turned black and began to swirl into a portal. Everything in the lot, including Rose, was slowly pulled into the ground. Rose tried to escape, but couldn't move. Soon, she and her robots were sucked into oblivion.

"Cat," I asked. "Where is she."

"She was teleported somewhere else. She said. "It should buy us some time. Mari, that was the most powerful spell I ever preformed."

"That's my girl." I sighed. I put an arm around her (mostly because Rose kinda half paralyzed me) "I knew you could. Jesse," I asked. I knew that Rose must have struck a nerve that made me weaker. Damn it. I cursed that fact that my body was half built like a Tameranean—including most of my nervous, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems.

"Yeah, Mar." Jesse asked supporting me.

"Let's go home."

0O0O0

There are certain things you must know if you are going to become a villain. One is how to destroy your enemy, just by taking what means the most to them. If I was to grade Rose on a scale from one to ten on that ability, I'd give her a 9.5.

"Hello?" Cat called. The front door had a few dents in it, but nothing serious. I blamed Wally. The moron should know better than to try to go through doors when he was nearly burned out. "Mom, Dad? Anyone home?"

"Jen? Mom?" I shouted. Jesse had to support me, but I was a little stronger than back at the lot. "Wally?"

Inside, past the entry hall, was...I don't think there is a word that can describe the horrible damage the place was in. There were huge holes in the walls, the computers were destroyed, wires had been riped out of the wall. There was no one in the entire Tower. Jesse tore the place apart looking. I was scared. Jen had just had a relapse not too long ago, she was definitely in no condition to fight. With a heavy heart Jesse came back to tell me that the entire Tower was a total war zone. There were robot parts everywhere, but not bodies. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing. Somehow we knew who took our parents: Rose. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

"I need to talk to you, Mari." Jesse said. I gave Cat and Randy instructions to try to put surviving computers back online and followed him to the hall. "I want you to know something, Mari."

"Is this where you apologize."

"Not really. This is where I tell you that Rose was right."

"Beg pardon?" I asked.

"I only dated Rose," He sighed, "because I couldn't get the guts to try to date you."

"What?!" I took a step back and was a little wobbly. Jesse tried to step forward, but I wouldn't let him.

"Mari, I...I've been in love with you forever. Since we were just kids."

"No." I said. I began to shake my head. This couldn't be happening!

"Mari, I thought that I could ignore those...these feelings for you, but I couldn't. Surely you feel the same? I could feel it, Mari. I could feel that you felt the same the night Mom had that relapse—when you kissed me back?"

"Jesse." I said.

"Please, Mari." He begged. "Tell me you love me."

"I can't." I said softly.

"Don't tell me that!" He said. You could see his heart was breaking. "Please tell me that you love me back!"

"Jesse, I...I don't love you." I said. "I don't." Jesse bent his head down and began to tremble. I tried to touch him, to comfort him, but he shoved me away and walked off. I could hear thunder outside, but I didn't care. I ran after him, but he gained speed. By the time we both were outside, he was gone. I didn't call after him. I just stood there in the pouring rain saying one thing. "What have I done...what have I done?"


	9. E i g h t

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: I looked up what kind of weapons Nightwing had on Wikipedia. You'd be surprised to see how much crap can fit in one belt. **

E i g h t

Jesse was gone. There was no changing that. He had left us...he had left me. I stood there in the pouring rain for half an hour. Finally, I went inside. I did not cry. My only thought was that I remembered that Jen kept vodka in her room and that it would hit the spot then.

"Mari," Cat said from her corner. "Where's Jesse."

"Gone."

"To look for our parents?"

"Nope." I said. I walked faster, but she followed me.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, Cat. He left."

"Left?" She echoed. "Where?"

"I don't know, Cat!" I whirled around and snapped. "All I know is that he just told me that he _loved_ me and he wanted me to say that I shared those feelings with him! I told him I didn't love him and he left! Okay? He left!" I turned back around and walked down the hall.

After grabbing my vodka, I headed for the kitchen and poured a glass. Cat and Randy approached me.

"Why didn't you go after him?" She asked.

"Because I don't go that fast." I replied.

"You could try to look for him! Mari, Rose could find him and_ kill_ him!" She begged.

"Jesse's a talented boy." I replied taking a long drink. "He'll think of something."

"You mean to say that you are just going to stand here and drink beer and let him go?!" She shouted.

"Catherine, this is vodka, not beer. Vodka is much stronger than beer. And what the hell do you want me to do? Magically track him down, throw myself at him and beg him to come back? F you." I said. Cat boldly grabbed the glass and threw it at the wall. "I was drinking that." I said.

"Damn it, Mari! Don't stand there and act like you don't miss him; that you aren't worried about him! You lied to him, didn't you. You really love him, don't you? Well go after him and bring him back because—."

I grabbed the bottle and slung it against the wall as hard as I could. Cat jumped back.

"Damn it, Cat!" I yelled. "What the hell do you think love is? Do you think that it is like in the fairy tales when the girl tells the boy that she loves him and they beat all the odds and live happily ever after?! No! Love is like breeding a damn pitbull! You can love it, and coddle it, and treat it like the damn thing is the best thing in the world, but you know what, Cat? The damn thing is going to react. It will bite the hand that fed it and shit will backfire on you." I slung a few more dishes against the wall. "Men are all the same, Cat. I realized this over time. They will promise to love you, but they will go behind your back and treat you like shit. You aren't worth anything to them unless you have a huge rack and you are a trashy redhead or a blonde. Even then you aren't worth much. Men will use you to get what they want."

"W-what's that?"

"Sex. They want sex and when they get tired of you, they will move on! They _might_ come back to you only when they are kicked out of bed. But then they will leave you again."

"That's not true!" She said. I cleared the counter by throwing everything on the floor. Cat jumped back even further and began to cry. Randy wrapped his arms around her and tried to comfort her. I left. I locked myself in my room and went into my lab.

"Damn you, Jesse!" I screamed. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. Then I realized it. Cat was right.

She was right all the long. I really did love Jesse, I was just afraid of being used. But look at what I did. Jesse was gone, the kitchen was trashed even more, I had wasted perfectly good vodka, and my childhood best friend was in the living room sobbing. I knew what I had to do...and I hated it.

"Cat." I said walking into the living room. She was still crying. "I'm...I'm sorry, okay?"

"Y-you are?" She hiccuped.

"I didn't mean to loose my cool, it's just...you know how Jen says that me and my father have a bad habit of bottling up our anger and one day we'll explode and we'll attack anyone who gets in our way?" She nodded. "That's what happened eleven years ago with him and a few minutes ago with me. Unfortunately for me then and for you know, we were in the way. I never meant to yell at you, I just needed to vent. You were right. I do...have feelings for Jesse."

"I knew it." She simply said.

"But I ruined everything. Jesse's gone and he's never coming back." I sat down on the couch and put my head in my hands. Cat wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked her, not bothering to sit up.

"Just hug me back." She sighed. For once, I obeyed without arguing. When we released each other I got up and moved to the newly repaired computer. I turned to face them.

"We have a problem." I said. They listened intently. "Our enemy has broken into our home and kidnapped our family in hopes to cripple us. Are we going to let her get away with it?"

"Hell no!" They shouted.

"Our fellow teammate has abandoned us and I'm sure that without him, we will not be able to defeat Rose." I continued. My morale and confidence rose with each word I spoke. "This will be our greatest moment! The TTNG will emerge and show the city what we are capable of! We will track down Rose and storm her stronghold! We'll show her what messing with us really means! Are you with me?" The cheered loudly. "Okay, here's the plan." I pulled out an Expo marker from the kitchen drawer and walked back to the computer. On a not broken screen, yet broken computer, and began to write on it. "Randy, work on all the computers and see if you can put them back online. After that, try to track down your father's GTU. We find him, most likely we'll find the rest of the Titans. Cat, you work on the working computer and see if you can find Jesse. Most likely, he's still in town and he'll probably buy a train ticket so he can sulk. If he does, he'll have to sign his name because he's still a minor thanks to the Minor Travel Alone Law of 2020. If you can, try to find him mentally, that might be easier and faster. As for me, I'm gonna search my parents' room and get some of my dad's old weapons. They may serve useful in taking down Rose. Then, I'm going to see the old T-Car is still working. I don't want to use the van to get to wherever Rose is." They nodded obediently and rushed to their assignments. I walked out of the room towards my parents' room. It seemed like the night my mother gave me that black dress and told me she was proud of me happened years and years before. I walked to the closet and pulled down two boxes. My mother's old uniforms were in one, my father's old uniforms and his old weapons were in the other.

I opened my mother's box first. Inside were purple Tameranian civilian clothes. I stroked them lovingly and put one to my nose. It smelt like my mother. Purely out of instinct, I stripped my clothes and put it on. Except for the bust area, it fit me perfectly. I did sorta look like my mom when she was my age. I took most of the uniform off except for the armband, which looked pretty cool. I dug in my father's box and grabbed his old utility belt. Inside I hit the jackpot. I found a flashlight, lock picks, grappling hooks, flares, some kind of re-breath machine (to protect from air toxins), first aid kit, mini-computer (with GPS and Internet; if he thought I was giving _that_ back he had another thing coming), batarangs, taser charges, listening devices, knock out gas pellets, smoke bombs, and tracing devices. Who knew all that stuff was in there? I packed everything miraculously into the belt and put it around my waist. It fit me loosely, but luckily, it didn't fall off.

I walked to the garage. Wally's car was there, as were Vic's T-Car 2.0, my father's and mother's cars, and Gar's car. And then there was the original T-Car. Like any car, it was never used anymore because there was a newer, better model. There was nothing wrong with the car besides that the brakes were a little bad, but I could fix it easily. It took me a few hours, mostly because I was a little rusty and hadn't touched a car in a while.

"Mari," Randy ran into the garage. I had just finished washing the grease off my hands. "I found the keys to the T-Car."

"Great," l said taking the keys. "Let's try this bad boy out." The engine purred like a kitten. Randy took it for a test run and I went back to the living room.

Cat was levitating in the middle of the floor. She must have sensed my presence because she stopped and stood up. She looked very happy and practically jumped up and down when she saw me.

"Mari," She cried, "I know where Jesse is!"

"Where?!" I cried. I almost began jumping up and down with her.

"The bus depot at four o'clock!" She screamed happily. "I just saw it in a vision." I looked at the clock. It was three-thirty. Randy walked it.

"Brakes work perfectly—."

"Great, give me the keys." I commanded. He tossed them to me. "Cat found Jesse, I gotta go." With that I ran out of the door.

0O0O0

I ran into the bus depot. It was four on the dot. I searched desperately for Jesse. I ran everywhere, but I couldn't see him. I began calling his name desperately.

"Jesse! Jesse!" Cat was wrong. I spent half an hour searching, but soon all buses had left and were replaced by new ones. Jesse was gone, and it was all my fault.

I sat down on a bench and put my head in my hands. No tears would come to my eyes. Jesse was gone...No matter how many times I told myself, I couldn't face the facts. I felt someone sit down next to me.

"What's wrong?" They asked.

"What isn't wrong?" I replied. "My best friend told me that they loved me and I said that I didn't love them, even though I really do love him. Now he's gone and without him, Ravager is going to win."

"No she won't."

"How are you so sure?" I snapped bitterly. I lifted my head and looked at the person next to me.

"Because," Jesse said lovingly, "I'm right here."


	10. N i n e

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros & DC Comics.**

N i n e

I stared at Jesse for a minute. He stared back at me. I felt angry and happy at the same time. I wanted to punch him, yet I wanted to kiss him at the same time. So I did.

"You're an asshole." I said. He gave me a cocky grin.

"But I'm _your_ asshole."

"I'm such an idiot. I should have let you go." I moaned, looking away. But no matter how much I tried to tell him that I didn't love him, he knew very well that I was lying.

"You know there's a reason your mother really married your father." I said. Damn him for having his father's melting smile.

"And what's that?" He asked looking at me like I was a stupid child.

"Ever wonder why your birthday is six months after their anniversary?" I asked as I started walking off to the T-Car.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He asked wryly. Nothing could ruin his good mood.

"Jesse," I sighed. "We need you..._I_ need you. Come home." As an answer he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm glad you said that, Mari." He said softly. "I needed to hear you say that." I looked at his arms laced around my waist. No one had ever treated me like that before. He rested his chin on my head and I cursed him for being so damn tall. I pushed my body as close as I could to his, drinking in his warmth and the safe feeling he gave me. A silent thrill raced through my soul, I felt my cheeks burned and I was thankful Jesse couldn't see my face.

"We're looking for them, our parents and Rose—I mean Ravager." I said quietly. "Jesse, please come home."

"Of course, Mari." he said. His pink eyes were filled to the brim with love. I appreciated it very much.

"Jesse James West," I said, my words dripping with venom, "If you ever do something like that again, I'll kick you damn ass."

"Because you love me?"

"No," I replied pulling away from him. "Because you're a prick."

0O0O0

Jesse was shocked to see the mess in the kitchen from my argument slash fight with Cat. He was even more shocked to see that I had been drinking vodka in his absence. Of course, what did he expect? Me to sob sadly like a little girl? I'm an adult. I handle problems the adult way—with a bottle of alcohol.

"Alright, now we have to find Rose." I said, pacing around the chaotic room. "We have to get our parents back. Maybe we could leave my dad and Karen behind..."

"MARI?!" Randy screeched. "We can't leave my Mama behind!"

"I could."

"Mari," Jesse said sternly.

"Aw, fine. We'll leave my dad behind."

"Mari!" Jesse said.

"Fine!" I sighed in exasperation. "Damn bastards and your _loyalty_." I said loathing them all for a moment. "Randy, see if you can try to locate their frequencies." I reached into my pocket and drew out Rose's eye. "Use this."

"Do I have to?" He asked in disgust, gingerly picking up the eyeball with two fingers.

"Yep." I replied. "Think of your mother, Randy."

"Alright." He said seriously. I turned back to my team.

"Cat, I want you to try to get your mother's frequency, get into her mind. We need to find them. Jess, you rest up, we don't need you to burn out on us. I'm gonna practice."

There are people, like Karen, who believe that if you are guilty of the Seven Deadly Sins, you will go to hell. The Seven Deadly Sins, of course are lust, envy, wrath, vanity, sloth, gluttony, and greed. I don't know if that was true or not, but it seemed like I was always guilty of at least one of those, as was most of the people I knew.

BJ was guilty of lust and greed, his sister, DJ, was guilty of vanity and lust, and just saying that Dane was guilty of lust was a _huge_ understatement. Jesse, later on in his life would be guilty of lust and envy. Randy was guilty of gluttony and sloth, and Cat was guilty of envy and vanity.

At that moment, just after I left the TTNG behind me, I was guilty of wrath—big time. I wanted revenge against Rose. I think everyone is guilty of one of the Seven Sins, don't you?

I practiced in the training room until I dropped. I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open.

"Mari," Jesse said coming into the room just as I dropped to the floor. His concerned, loving voice cut through my hazy mind. "Sweetie, come on."

"I'm fine." I murmured, my eyes half closed, even though I was fighting it as hard as I could. Jesse wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me close.

"You can't keep running yourself ragged, Mari." He scolded lovingly. He kissed my sweaty forehead. "We have to get some rest. We can't have _you_ burning out either."

"I guess you're right, Jess." I said snuggling close to his collar. It smelt like cheap aftershave...which was weird because he didn't shave. I let him take me to my room and tuck me in. I tried to sleep, but couldn't. I got up and took a couple of my father's sleeping pills and curled up on my mother's side of my parent's bed with one of the dresses that she had worn the day before and quickly fell asleep.

0O0O0

_I opened my eyes and found myself lying on cold concrete. I sat up and looked around. I was in an old warehouse...but where. I heard someone laughing and looked behind me._

"_Hello?" I called. I stood up and looked around some more. "Is there anyone there!"_

"_Mari!" Someone shouted. I whirled around. "Go to the docks!"_

"_Who said that." I formed starbolts in both my hands and shouted,"Show yourself!"_

"_Go to the docks!" The voice said. "And you'll find..."_

"Mari!"

"_Randy!?" I said._

"Mari!"

0O0O0

I moaned and rolled onto my stomach. I clutched the dress in my fist.

"I'll kill you, Randy." I moaned. I looked at my mother's pale pink alarm clock. It was three in the morning. "This had better be good."

"I got a hold of Dad." he whispered.

"What?!" I sat up, all of my anger and sleepiness evaporated. "Where are they?"

"He didn't tell me." He admitted. "They want us to stay here, where we're safe."

"You're our leader, Mari." Cat said from the corner. She, Jesse, and Randy were dressed and alert. "What should we do?"

"What the hell do you think?" I laughed getting up. I went into my parent's bathroom and brushed my hair with my mother's brush. I scrubbed my face with soap and water and then used my father's mouthwash and straightened my clothing. My mother said that making yourself look presentable made you feel better. But I still didn't believe her.

"Mari?" Jesse asked.

I looked at each of them for a moment. I felt some gravity I had never felt before—not even when I was with the Jokerz on a heist. "We leave for the docks in five minutes." I said.

I climbed into the passenger seat of the T-Car. Randy was at the wheel with a sober expression. None of us, except me back in my gang member days, had ever done anything this stupid before. If our parents told us to stay where we were, they done so with good reasoning. After all, they were our parents. It was their jobs to protect us and guide us...even though my father never did any of that for me. I put my hand on Randy's shoulder.

"Let's go." I said.

**A/N: I'd like to thank Somewhere In Time for being my Beta. Otherwise, there would be a LOT more mistakes in this than there might be now. ;)**


	11. T e n & E p i l o g u e

**Disclaimer: Teen Titans © Warner Bros. & DC Comics.**

**A/N: This is it! The final chapter! First off, I would like to thank you guys for reviewing! It really helped me! And I would also like to thank (very much!) Somewhere In Time for being my beta writer—without her this chapter and the last one would have sucked. A lot. I _am_ going to make a sequel for TTNG, so look for it okay.**

T e n

Randy was actually a better driver than Jesse. He drove cautiously, but considerably faster than my boyfriend. Normally, I would tease the two of them about it, but I didn't. Instead, I sat in the front seat looking out the window in deep concentration. Would I be strong enough to beat Rose? Would I be fast enough; smart enough? Then another question plagued me. If things went wrong, would I end up like my father?

"Mari?" Cat asked. "Are you alright?"

"I will be." I promised. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Jesse's concerned eyes looking at me. "I will be." I repeated more forcefully.

"Alright." He said quietly. He thought for a few minutes. "What if she had another relapse while Rose had her?" It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was talking about his mother. He looked at me with begging eyes. I looked at them and figured out that he wanted me to be his shelter, to hold him lovingly and tell him it was okay. To tell him some pretty little lie and make everything better. I looked away. No matter how much I wanted to do that, I couldn't. I just wasn't that kind of person. I was blunt and rude at times, but I wasn't the kind of person to lie that things were better than they were. Jesse knew that, but I don't think he ever really cared.

0O0O0

We pulled into the docks before the sun even began peaking over the ocean. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty air. I felt Jesse's hand on my shoulder.

"This is it." He said.

"Failure is not an option." I told him. The gentle sea breeze blew my hair back. "I'm not leaving until we get them back."

"Same here." Randy said solemnly.

"Yeah." Cat piped in. "But where are we going to find them?"

"Hell if I know." I scoffed. "That's why we have Jesse."

"Huh?" My boyfriend said jumping back a little.

"Go into each warehouse," I said pointing to each, "and look in every room. Then come out. In Rose's warehouse, she's sure to kidnap you. When you don't come out, that's the warehouse we'll go it."

"So, technically," He moaned, "I'm bait?"

"Yep!" I smiled. I got on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. Unfortunately, Jesse was taller than me—a _lot_ taller than me. "Try not to get killed, okay?"

"Got it." He grinned. He sped into the first warehouse. It took him a few minutes, but soon he cleared most of the warehouses. "Mari," He sighed, "This isn't working."

"One more." I said sympathetically.

"Fine, but you owe me one." He groaned.

"You know it." I smiled. He went into the last one...and then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

We waited for two hours for Jesse. Finally, we decided that we found our warehouse. We entered it uneasily.

"Watch yourselves, guys." I warned quietly. We didn't dare call for Jesse. We were much too afraid. I closed my eyes and hoped that my boyfriend was alright.

"Do you think he's alright?" Randy asked, voicing my thoughts.

"I hope so." I replied in a solemn tone. Before I could even say anything else, I felt the floor open beneath us and we fell into darkness.

0O0O0

The first thing I heard when I woke up was our parents—doing what parents do best. Bitch and moan.

"I can't believe this." Jen shouted at Jesse. "We tell you to stay where you were—where you were _safe _and what the hell do you do? Run off to where we are!"

"Randall Archibald Stone, out of all the stupid idiotic things you have ever ever done, this takes the cake!" Karen shouted, her feet making loud anxious tapping noises as she paced the concrete floor.

"Catherine, we raised you better. We raised you to have a little bit more sense." Rachel moaned. Then my father noticed I was awake. That was when he started on me.

"Mariander Jean Grayson," He growled. I sat up and tried to look at my surroundings, but he grabbed my chin and made me look at him. "I can't believe this. Out of all the training, out of all the hours I apparently _wasted_ on you what do you do? You get kidnapped. You fall for one of the stupidest tricks in the books and you get kidnapped." He let me go and moved away from me. I stood up and started after him.

"Yeah, but you got kidnapped by a sixteen year old girl. How does that make you—!" Before I could even finish my sentence, my father hit me—hard. I flew back into the wall and hit my head against the wall. I touched the corner of my mouth and felt the blood begin to trail down my mouth and the back of my head throbbed. Jesse saw it and began to move towards me, but I shook my head. I got up and gave my father a dirty look.

"Don't touch me." I growled. "Don't you dare touch me." I reached underneath my shirt and pulled out a batarang, flipping it open as I did.

"What are you doing with that?" he asked me in disbelief.

"Fighting you, old man." I said roughly.

"Mariander," my mother pleaded, "put that..._thing_ away."

"You want to fight?" My father asked taking a similar weapon out and opening it, "Alright, we'll fight."

"Robin!" My mother gasped. That was the first time I had ever heard her call him by his old alter ego.

"Mari, Richard," Wally said, "Put those away!"

Ignoring him, I moved forward, but someone grabbed my hand, the one the batarang was in.

"Mari," Jen said quietly, calmly, and sternly at the same time. "Put the weapon away. Richard, stop being a prick and put yours away."

"Stay out of this, Jinx." He snapped.

"Make me." She said. "I'm forty years old and I'm practically dying, but I can still kick your ass—just like I did twenty-three years ago." Her eyes twinkled wildly in the dim light. My father believed her threat and put the weapon away. I followed suit and the whole room relaxed. My father sulked off into a corner and I stalked off into another.

"Could you really kick his ass?" I asked Jen. She shrugged and leaned close so she could whisper in my ear.

"To be honest, he could kick my ass before I could kick his—but apparently my threat worked just as well." She smiled. I laughed out of either nervousness or amusement—I couldn't tell which. Before I could leave, she grabbed my arm. "What's with you and Jesse?" She asked. "I've never seen him so happy before.

"Uh..." I laughed nervously, "It's kind of a long story." Luckily, she didn't press on. When everyone left me alone I walked over and sat with Jesse.

"Don't feel bad, Mari." He yawned. "I fell for the floor trick too."

"Jesse," I sighed, "I'm not supposed to fall for something that mediocre. I'm Nightwing's daughter. I should know better."

"Stop beating yourself up, Mari." Jesse demanded. "Even you aren't perfect." I laughed.

"You have no idea." I smiled.

Suddenly, the door opened.

"Well, well, well." Rose laughed. "The Titans and their children—trapped like rats! I love it!"

"Hey, Bitch." I greeted coolly. I snuggled closer to Jesse. "Guess what I did while you were gone?" She stared at me and I stared at her. Suddenly, it clicked in her head.

"Y-y-you..." She couldn't even finish her sentence. Her naturally pale face turned sheet white, her jaw dropped open—I had my revenge against her trying to turn Jesse against me.

"Hurts, don't it?" I smiled. I glanced over at the Titans and the rest of the TTNG. Cat and Randy were grinning like Cheshire cats and my words clicked in the adults heads. I felt nervous about them knowing I was dating Jesse, but they were going to find out after all and I had more important things to worry about. I got up and approached Rose. The minute I got within a yard of her, her eyes glowed yellow.

"Hit me with your best shot." I dared and immediately dodged a punch. I felt the earth shake underneath me. I looked over at the others, and saw that they were buried in androids.

Rose and I were evenly matched and I hated it. For ever punch I threw at her, she blocked it and threw one back at me.

"Just give up," She sighed. "You'll never win."

"Oh, yes I will!" I growled. I managed to blast her backwards with a starbolt. She landed on an android that Jesse had just defeated. He joined me just as Rose got up.

"You'd pick her over me?" She asked, trying to hide the pain but couldn't.

"Every time." Jesse replied calmly.

"Did you ever love me?"

"I kinda did," he admitted, "But you are way too high maintenance for me, Rose."

"Cheer up, Rose." I said cheerfully. "You could ask John out!" Before I even knew what had happened, I was flying across the floor into a wall. I brought my hand no my nose and felt warm blood. Rose had hit me! I pulled out my bo-staff and faced her. "Playtimes over." I said feeling my eyes burn blue.

"Who's playing?" She laughed. She wiped out a katana and ran forward. I dodged these attacks, but just barely. I looked at Jesse and cursed in my mind. He was already burning out! Rose noticed that my attention was elsewhere and managed to stick her foot behind mine and trip me. "Goodbye, Grayson." She smiled and raised the katana above me. I saw it catch the light as it quickly lowered.

The next thing I saw was purple flashing in front of me. I blinked and looked to my right. A proud smile came to my lips. Cat—shy, cautious, and timid—had attacked Rose just before she could kill me. Cat, who took the form of a tiger, growled at Rose with animosity.

"Good job," I said. She nodded, but didn't take her eyes off her blonde pray. "Ready to give up?" I asked Rose. She laughed.

"Please, Grayson." She sighed. Her hand trailed to her face. She put her on her forehead and pulled. I was shocked to see an android—of course her father _was_ famous for that kind of deception. The _real_ Rose pounced from her hiding spot in the rafters and managed to beat Cat off the android. Rose pulled me up and pushed me against the wall.

"You are going to pay for what your father did to my parents, Grayson."

"Who's your mother?" I blurted. She leaned close to my ear and whispered, "_Terra. Terra Markov._"

I felt my face lose all it's color. My stomach muscles tightened and I froze, my eyes widening. Rose looked at me with glee.

"Do you know what that means, Grayson?" She asked.

"Y-You have her powers?" I managed to say. Although it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yep."

"Shit." I gulped.

"Mari!" Cat got up and changed into some other feline, but I couldn't tell whether it was a leopard or a cheetah. She pounced on Rose and mangaged to dig her claws into Rose's neck. Blood spilt onto her uniform, Cat's paws, and some drops even landed on my face. I pulled an arm free and pulled out the batarang and opened it. I gulped and dug it into Rose's abdomen. She gasped and pulled away. Was that what Slade looked like before my father killed him? Rose pulled the weapon out of her stomach and dropped it to the ground. Then I realized it was just a flesh wound. I hadn't dug it far enough into her body to leave any _real _damage.

"You..." She put her hand on her stomach and then pulled it back. Even on her dark blue gloves, you could see the blood. "Bitch!"

"_Rose_." A voice called. Rose pulled out a radio.

"I'm busy, Death." She said. "The Titans."

"_I don't give a damn. Get the xenothium and get the hell out of there._" The voice replied in an annoyed tone. "_You can play with your friends later_." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Randy move cautiously. I kept my face to Rose, but my eyes were on him. Rose continued to fight with the voice on the radio. The andriods were all destroyed, but the Titans didn't move. Everyone but Rose had their eyes on Randy. With unknown courage and agility he ran forward and grabbed the batarang.

"WHAT THE F—." Rose shouted. Randy dug the batarang into her body, about halfway between her stomach and her breasts. Rose sputtered.

"_Rose, what happened? Rose!_" Rose put her hand on her new wound, not bothering to pull the weapon out this time, and looked at me.

"I'll get you for this, Grayson. Mark my words. I'll take what's important to you—just like what you did to me!" She snapped her fingers and more androids came and a red energy field enclosed her and the androids—and the xenothium. She pulled out a remote and used it to open the metal door revealing a truck.

"Vic, get us through that forcefield!" My father and I shouted. He nodded and moved towards it trying to find a weak spot. As he did so, the andriods put crates of xenothium into the truck. I put my fists up and began pounding the forcefield, my starbolts were the only things keeping my hands from getting burned or shocked.

Vic did get through, but that was after Rose and about 55 crates of xenothium were a safe distance away.

"We have to go after her!" I shouted.

"Yeah!" Cat said, immediately moving into a meditation pose. She was trying to find Rose by using her thoughts.

"Where's a computer?" Randy demanded. "I can find the license plate number."

"I can run after them." Jesse offered. Our parents were shocked. They had never seen us like this before. We had never been so willing to help track down someone. We had never worked together before. I know it broke their hearts to tell us it would do no good.

"No doubt she has a system in that eye of her to keep you out, Cat." Her mother sighed.

"It was an unmarked car," Vic said to Randy, "and the equiptment on it that would cancel out your powers." He added to Jesse.

"Damn." We said simultaneously.

"What now?" I sighed.

"I gotta go fix up the Tower." Vic said. "God knows what that little bitch did to it after we were kidnapped."

"She threw a bottle of vodka against the wall." I said. The TTNG smiled, but luckily no one saw that. I had to find some way to explain the vodka.

"Dammit." Jen cursed. She knew which bottle we were talking about.

"I have to make plans for you guys for your schooling in August." Rachel said.

"Uh, Rachel." I said, "If it's all the same to you, I think I want to go back to public schooling."

"Me too." Randy said.

"Me three, Mom." Cat chirped.

"What brought this on?" My father asked.

"It's a long story." I smiled. I didn't apologize for what had happened in the room and neither did he. All was right with the world. "Do you mind?"

"No," He said. "You need to get out of the Tower. But the paperwork is going to be a bitch to fill out!"

"Mari," Cat said. She raised her eyebrows.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Tell them." She said.

"Tell them what? Oh, about me and Jesse?"

"No," She sighed, "about _us_."

"What us?!" I snapped. Then I caught the meaning. "Oh, TTNG."

"TTNG?" Wally repeated.

"Yes," I said. "That's our new team. We are a seperate and 75 independent crime-fighting team."

"Seventy-five percent?" Karen repeated.

"No housing." I admitted.

"No alarms." Randy added.

"We're underage." Jesse pointed out.

"I think we better discuss that—TTNG, I mean." Dad said, laughing for the first time since we moved to Jump City.

E p i l o g u e

_**Notes**_

_**From: Detective Lorena Marquez**_

_**To: Judge Cassandra Sandsmark**_

_**Subject: Mariander Jean Grayson- TTNG's creation**_

_**Ms. Grayson states that this is exactly how the Teen Titans Next Generation (TTNG) was created. Lie detector test (included) prove that she was 100 honest. Will continue interrogation tomorrow. My colleague, Don Hall, pulled in Mr. Richard Grayson (Nightwing) in earlier for interrogation. Will interrogate rest of TTNG and Titans as soon as Mr. Grayson finishes his interrogation. Tomorrow, I will also pull in Xavier Oliver Redson for further interrogation.**_


End file.
